


The Forgotten Tales

by Toroto



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Cursing is involved, F/F, F/M, Gender-Neutral Frisk for Now, Matured Frisk, Memory Loss, Multi, Other, Reader Is Frisk, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spaghetti carnage, Timeline altering, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-16 20:07:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5839222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toroto/pseuds/Toroto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The timeline keeps resetting and while those who remember, Flowey and Sans, blame a certain human, only Frisk actually knows the truth. The timeline keeps resetting but they have never been the cause of it. With memories wiped clean every time a Reset happens, they are forced to find the key to ending the continued Resets before their SOUL breaks apart at the seams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Memories and Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> My pet project for the semester. Beginning with the idea that Frisk is never the one choosing to reset the timelines but is rather trapped in them and forced to figure out how to stop it.
> 
> I am writing Frisk as gender neutral as possible as that is how I /personally/ see the character in game. That being said, for the sake of this story, I may slip into the female tense if it becomes necessary for later encounters. Lastly, Frisk is not a child like the games.
> 
> Come, my friends. Join me in my trash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an ADD AS I GO, sort of thing. New chapters will be posted almost immediately after I finish them. Sometimes it's once a day, sometimes once a week. All I can promise is that there will be more added. I just have a lot of work at school right now to be making huge promises of every day updates.

There is no answer. No way out. No end in sight. You tried so hard to find your happy ending, so hard to make it to the end. As your feet sprint across the ground, black shoes pounding forward, eyes darting around you, you couldn’t help but regret that this hadn’t been the solution either. You actually thought you had done it this time. You had freed them, after all, you had spoken to every monster. You had made friends with so many people, were kind, never killed. Was that not enough? They were free!

No. No, of course it wasn’t. There must have been something you had missed. Maybe this wasn’t the right way after all. 

But killing everyone didn’t help either, you would know.

You have been down here for a very long time. Longer than you probably realized, actually. You fell when you were a child, so innocent and afraid of the shadows in the night. Really, you were still that person, just a bit older, a bit wiser. You fell down into the darkness of Mt. Ebott and your life had changed. 

But there was no end to it. Just as you thought you had finished the hardest part of your life, accomplished your goal, and set your sights on the future, you would feel it begin again.

The Reset.

It’s what you had nicknamed this change after a while. Seemed sort of fitting since it erased years from your life and started you over anew.

You would find yourself stuck in the same loop, memory wiped as if your past timeline never happened. Sometimes you remembered their smiles though, the way they would laugh when you told a particularly good joke or when you would surprise them with a hug. You would meet your friends soon after the Reset once again but sometimes only their smiles seemed to ring as familiar to you.

Other times, after the Reset, you would only remember the pain that you caused. Hands white with the dust that made up their bodies, blood dripping from wounds someone gave you as they tried to protect their world. You remember their determination, their hope, their kindness that you would replace with pain as you slaughtered them. 

You were never really sure why you did these things at the time. Why you decided it would be a good idea to kill these monsters that had never harmed you.

It’s only when the Reset begins that you remember. When you feel the tugging at your soul backwards through time, when you watch the world begin to dissolve into what seemed to be pixels, you remember all you have done. You just wanted it to end. You wanted to find a way to stop this hell from ever happening again. You didn’t care how it ended as long as the Resets stopped. If it ended with you dead, if it had them dead, at least then there would be an escape for all of you from this nightmare that had you trapped forever. 

So, sometimes you were their Savior. Sometimes you were the demon that haunted their dreams. It’s not as if it mattered too much what you did, no one remembered it anyway. Not really. Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Asgore, Asriel. You’ve seen the same scenes over and over again, these precious beings trapped in a loop that would never end. They deserved their ending, right? Happy or sad, they deserved a conclusion to the story.

You all did.

You flinched involuntarily, a breath of air expelling from your lungs as you fall to your knees. The forests outside Mt. Ebott were so lovely when it snowed, light sprinkling of magic like snow floating to the ground around you. One hand curled in the dusty layer of wet cold in front of you, making you shiver, as the other reached up to touch your chest. 

It had been a cool idea at first, to try hiking back up to the barrier ledge to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. You had invited everyone to come with you… but thinking on it now, it’s probably lucky that they decided to stay home. The last memory of theirs from this timeline shouldn’t be you in pain.

It was happening slower this time. The length of time of a Reset varied slightly depending on the situation. If you were dead already when the reset began, it was instantaneous. No time to remember, no time to plan. Even if it hurt, the more time you had to think through your life as a whole rather than a fragment the better. If you were going to find a way out of this, you needed to remember exactly what you had done before.

Your teeth clenched together and your head dipped as a stab of pain, violent and merciless tore through your soul. Every time it happened, the pain got worse. It felt as if someone was fracturing your soul a little more each time. Eventually, after enough resets, you knew that you would just shatter to pieces and disappear, leaving your friends alone in that loop with no way out.

You couldn’t have that happen.

The hand on your chest grips your skin a little tighter and turn your gaze to the skies above you, mostly covered with light gray clouds that were the cause of the snow that fluttered all around you. One last look at the stars before you forgot them… it would be a long long time once you fell before you saw them again.

A tear slid down your face as the sky blurs out, darkness replacing the hints of white it dissolve before your very eyes. Swallowing down the choking feeling in your throat, you close your eyes, not willing to see it all disappear again. 

“------!“

Words you weren’t sure you understood angrily yells out from somewhere behind you, making you startle slightly. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone up here! Eyes snapping open in confusion, you turn right as the world fades away to see the glow of vivid blue and a white hand reaching out towards you.

It was with that sight, that you disappeared and the World, once again, began again. 

\-------------

Sometimes all I remember is their smiles. Sometimes all I remember is the pain that I caused. Sometimes I’m a savior, sometimes just a demon, and others I can’t decide. The only thing I’ve always known is that I’m trapped, just as they are and I’m determined to set us free. 

\-------------

 

Everything hurt but what else was new. There was a dull numbness in your body that was trying it’s best to keep you from the pain but was unsuccessful, ultimately, as the ache continued on. Somewhere inside you, you knew you should be grateful. At least it wasn’t cold, at least there was something soft underneath your fingertips as you struggle to open your eyes. 

You remember falling, a content smile on your face you explore the woods around you. You remember spinning around, head tilted up to look at the azure sky that held not a cloud in sight. Walking backwards, hand reaching out to brush the bark on a nearby tree, you hadn’t noticed the dip in the earth in behind you. It was just… so rare that you got to be alone with nothing but soft noises of birds and the warm breeze of the ending summer months. All you had actually wanted was to enjoy the beauty of this almost magical place but nope, that did not seem to be an option.

You weren’t expecting as you walked backwards for your foot to somehow not find the ground any longer. Honestly, how often does one actually expect the ground underneath your feet to just disappear? With little more than a soft cry, you found the world spinning out of control, the sky turning in a circle as you fell. 

Then it was dark.

How much time slipped by with you unaware, you weren’t too sure, but you were breathing and that was good, right? With a struggle, you crack your eyes open, the blurred vision of the world being pieced back together slowly but surely.

You had fallen, that’s for sure. 

The hole above your head was so far up that you never could reach it if you tried. Jumping and climbing were in no way an option. Red rays of glowing light filtered down upon your head, likely from the setting sun, and you realized then how late it must be. From afternoon to sunset you had been unconscious. 

Groaning, you shift slightly, hands brushing the soft thing underneath you as you tried to sit up. It hurt, most certainly, your back screaming at you in frustration for ever doing something so stupid as falling down a hole in a mountain. Only stupid people fall down holes in mountains, right?

“Howdy!”

Blinking, you turn to your right, the blur in your vision fading away completely at the stark color of yellow and green thing front of you.

A smiling yellow and green thing.

You scramble backwards, hands flailing a little as you roll. That was a smiling flower. You were in a bed of yellow flowers that should not have saved you from falling down a mountain, you were in a hole in the mountain, and one of the flowers is smiling at you. Add to that the possibility that maybe it just talked since your ears weren’t wringing and as far as you can tell, your head isn’t the thing that took the brunt of your fall. More like your back and your shoulder.

“I didn’t think you would reset so soon. Man, you just can’t get enough, can you?” 

Yep, it was definitely the flower talking here. Well… crap. You blink hard, rubbing a hand over your eyes as you let the confusion and slight amount of fear you were feeling cross your face. It wasn’t making much sense, any of this. Maybe you were still dreaming? That could be it… you were still unconscious or hey, maybe you were dreaming under a tree on the mountain instead. The second option wouldn’t explain the distinct flare of pain in your arm and back but you could be hopeful, right?

You hear a soft muttering from the flower and it rolls its eyes a little, as if it doesn’t understand what you are doing. 

“Well, what’s the plan this time? Clearly you didn’t have much fun the last round since you’re back so soon.”

You frown more heavily at the flower, still not understanding what’s going on as you struggle to stand. You almost felt bad, actually, crushing the beautiful flowers underneath you with your weight and even if it hurt you to stand, you were determined to do so anyway. They saved you, after all, they didn’t deserved to be squished. 

The flower was waiting for a response from you, seeming to sit there patiently with a wicked look in their eyes, almost bouncing with excitement. Actually, it was bouncing up and down slightly. What was going on here?

You shake your head side to side, mouth refusing to speak as you try to take it in. What was your plan? Reset? You weren’t sure what that meant. The flower was speaking to you… right?

“Come on, you didn’t hit your head too hard, did you?” The flower asked as it seemed to tilt to the side, head turned to look at you questioningly. “I said, who are you going to kill this time?”

Your mouth parted and your eyes bulge nearly out of your head. The flowers face transformed at its last sentence, teeth seeming to appear like fangs out of its mouth and color going stark white.

You didn’t have time to think about how incredible unfamiliar all this felt, how it seemed like something was off with this setting, because a flower just asked you who you were going to kill and well, you were going to run now like a sane person.

That’s exactly what you did, too. You took off, darting for the only pathway you could see out of the sunset lit room. Stone walls seemed to absorb the light, making it darker and darker as you ran forward, only thought that you needed to get away from the flower that seemed like it was suddenly no longer kind or sweet.

The farther you ran, however, the darker it became. Soon the walls seemed to fade away and all that was left was pitch black nothing. It was, well, terrifying. A hint of a tear whelmed up in your eyes and your shoulder burned with pain from the running, something clearly wrong with it from the fall. Maybe you had broken something, you weren’t really sure. Your chest ached and it was hard to breathe but you kept running because anywhere else in the mountain cavern would probably be better than with a freaky murder flower.

A sob escaped your mouth as you skid to a stop, nearly falling onto your butt as you turn a corner to see another flower patch lit by a small stream of light from the cavern ceiling above. The flower was sitting there, seeming to look aggravated with you, leaves on its stem positioned like a human would put their hands on their hips. 

“So that’s what you’re playing this time? Again? Okay, I’ll humor you. Let’s start again.” The flower spoke, seeming to be upset at your reaction. How did it THINK you would react to all of this? It was terrifying and you just wanted to escape here. You just wanted to go back to see the sun again. You wanted to be free from all this.

The flower seemed to take a breath before putting a large smile on its face. “Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower! You're new to the UNDERGROUND, aren'tcha? I’m sorry I scared you earlier, I didn’t mean to! You must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!” Its tone was cheerful and friendly now, so contrasting what you experienced previously that it made you shiver a little. 

Waving one of its leaves for you to come closer, Flowey gave you smile that seemed to take up most of its tiny face. Your eyes dart behind you, knowing that you can’t escape back the way you came. There was no way out… at least not one you could find. Clutching a hand over your arm, you step forward towards the flower, eyeing it suspiciously. 

Getting near it was a mistake, of course. You figured it would be. You were proven right the second you felt something tug from your chest. It felt, in that moment, that everything you were, everything you have ever been, disappeared from you and all that was left was the natural command of movement that you had learned over your life. 

A bright red glow seemed to fill the dark room, shimmering with gold and crimson like someone had cast a spot light through a window of beautiful stain glass. Your mouth parted wordlessly as a single solitary heart floated in front of your body, hovering a foot or so away from your chest. You tried to reach towards it but stop yourself at the last second, hesitating. Something felt wrong, all of a sudden. Very wrong.

Whatever stood in front of you seemed… broken. There were streams of light coming from cracks in the heart, chips seeming to be broken off. A small hole seemed to be marked in the center, darkness only able to be seen through it as if it didn’t crack all the way through to the other side. What you previously thought to be beautiful is now seemed sad. Whatever that heart was, it had been through a lot. 

Flowey seemed to be highly confused all of a sudden, going silent as he stared up at the heart. After a very long pause and a glance at you with a large from on their face, they spoke again. 

“So, um… this is your soul. It’s a combination of all your being. Down here, monsters…” He trails off again, looking at what he said was your soul again. Your soul? Really? But it looked… so damaged. How was it out of your body, too? This made no sense.

You weren’t damaged. Not like this. Not this far. Your life had never been good but you didn’t feel like your Soul should be breaking into pieces.

After another moment, the flower shook its head and rotated its body, glancing behind into the dark distance. Something read out to you as uncertain, suddenly. 

Right as you are about to speak up, to ask what was going on, and to wonder about how that thing was your soul, the flower seemed to make up his mind about whatever had made him stop talking in the first place. “Look, someone is going to be coming by here in about thirty seconds. Just, get her to look at your soul, okay? You can’t keep playing with me if that breaks.” 

Something about the statement bothers you more than a lot of the things that happen but before, once again, you can ask the flower your questions, the creature sunk into the ground and disappeared. Gone, just like that. 

In those moments, it probably wasn’t possible to look anymore lost. That was how she found you, in the end, eyes wide as you stare at the ground where the flower disappeared, one hand clutching your shirt where your heart, your broken Soul had disappeared back into your chest once more.


	2. An Unexpected Kindness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel is, by far, the sweetest thing you have ever met, monster or human.

A shuddered breath was the first noise you make after the flower disappears, the tears of panic from earlier still in your eyes. Your chest now ached with the knowledge of what was hidden deep within it where previously there had been no such feeling. The flower, stupid Flowey, seemed to have disappeared into thin air, leaving you in the darkness, and you couldn’t help but feel scared of what lay behind the veil.

                You had no choice but to go forward, however. There was no way back, there was only forward, and no matter how scared you felt suddenly, you needed to stay determined. There had to be a way out of this cavern and back onto the mountain slope, right?

                Inching forward, you seemed to flounder through the darkness, squinting to catch any sort of outline of a wall or a pathway to guide you by. How long you floundered about in the darkness, you weren’t sure. It felt like forever but perhaps that was just the panic eating away at you. In reality, it was probably only a minute or so before a flicker of light seemed to be cast in front of you.

                It moved and ebbed and glowed, getting closer to you from the distance. You would be scared of it if not for the fact that light at all felt like a gift, no matter how it came to pass.

                _“Oh my…”_ A soft voice seemed to whisper from in front of you as you stumbled into the light of the warm, burning flame that floated in the air. Like a willow wisp, it hovered there, soft guiding light being enough to make you feel a bit calmer as you turn to look at the being behind it.

                The creature towered over your smaller frame, seven feet or more, white like a ghost haunting the hallways of this place. The warm red flame flickered light over their face, goat like in appearance, muzzle turned down as it seemed to be frowning. Small horns caught the light every now and then, enough that you were able to notice them on the beings head. It’s eyes were wide, seeming shocked that you were there hidden in the darkness of this place. The expression, of course, suddenly changed to compassion as it seemed to notice the way you clutched your chest and held your arm tight to your body so as not to move your shoulder. Maybe they too saw the tears that shimmered in your eyes from the fall.

               _“My poor child, are you alright?”_ It’s voice was soft, as it stepped forward, the little flame coming with it, and for once, you didn’t shrink away. Something about that compassion seemed to ring true to you. This creature wasn’t like the flower you met earlier who scowled and laughed with a hint of malice.

                Its hand moved forward to touch your shoulder, trying to comfort you, only to have you flinch away in pain. The injury was more noticeable now that you weren’t fleeing for your life and adrenaline was fading away. _“You’re hurt…”_ It spoke as it hesitated in front of you and after a moment, you nod a little.

                The look of concern fixed itself on the creatures face and it nods slowly. _“No need to be afraid, my child. My name is Toriel and I am the caretaker of these ruins. You must be scared; I am sorry if I frightened you… I mean you know harm.”_

                Flowey, Toriel, the ruins. What was this place where flowers come to life and monsters seemed to exist as a natural thing? This Toriel seemed kind enough, more genuine than Flowey, but her presence still was enough of a worry you. Sniffing softly, you reach up to brush the wetness from the corners of your eyes as you slowly nod. You might have been afraid before, what with all that had happened, but you could see the kindness in this creatures face. You had no one else… trust was necessary.

                Toriel noticed rather quickly the change in your attitude and her look of concern softened slightly as she gave you a smile. _“Come, my dear. I’ll guide you through this place. You are injured, so stay close, alright? I will see to you as soon as you are safe.”_

                Stepping forward, you follow the creature into darkness, struggling to think of a question to ask. You, of course, practically glued yourself to the monsters side. It didn’t go unnoticed that the monster’s pace was slow to let you keep up as you were sure with your small stride, you would have lost her in the darkness by now.

                “I… Where am I?” You finally ask, the first words you have said since you got down here. Your voice was scratchy and uncomfortable to use, likely from the disuse. On the surface, you were not one for talking much, only putting in opinions and questions now and then if need be. Now, however, you needed to talk. You needed to ask your questions. You needed to know what was going on.

                _“The place you are in now is called the Ruins but as a whole, this area is called the Underground. It is my home as it will soon be yours. “_ She, you were inclined to believe it was a she by the lightness of her voice, said that with a sweetness that made you hesitant to even question that last part of her statement. You couldn’t afford to make your guide upset, not while you still were so lost.

                Rather quickly, thanks to her guidance, you both found your way to a place where torches lit the walls, illuminating the area finally so you could see around. What you once thought had been cave walls were in fact made of brick and stone, making sense that this place was, in fact, a ruin rather than a maze of underground tunnels. After a moment of looking around, you jog forward again to catch up to Toriel, pulling your shirt down back against your waist as it rode up.

                “And um, ma’am, what are… what are you?” You hesitated to ask again, not wishing to offend the goat creature. Thankfully, she seemed to already be expecting what you were wondering, pausing in a patch of red leaves to look at you with a kind expression.

                _“I, child, am a monster. One of many who live our lives under Mt. Ebott. There is no need to be afraid, though. I will protect you from anything that may harm you.”_ She seemed so calm in her answer, calling herself a monster with ease, but did she realize the word, to you, had a bad inclination. To you, a monster was something that destroyed, killed, frightened, and mangled a thing till it was nothing. The knowing look on her face probably mean she did realize it but was intent on correcting the idea immediately. If she was a monster, maybe not all monsters were bad.

                You step forward again to follow her, red leaves crunching under your feet. How these were there, you weren’t sure, as there were no trees in tight, but it wasn’t all that important to you anyway. Out of all the things you had come across today, the leaves were the least of your concerns. What did catch your attention however was the shimmer of light hidden in the leaves as Toriel ascended a large staircase up to a higher part of the ruin.

                Glancing up at her, you bite the inside of your mouth and take a second to wander to the light, leaning down to pick up the shining little object. It was a shard of something red, flickering lightly as you hold it. Strangely, the little piece of crystal (that was your best assumption to what it might be), made you smile at the situation you were in. It fills you with a sense of determination and you stuffed the object into your pocket to examine more lately. Running forward, you make to catch up to Toriel who had, at the top of the stairs, turned around to locate where you had gone.

                --------

                You didn’t encounter any other monsters as you traveled through the ruins. Toriel seemed to find this curious, saying that there was normally more of them out and about. She mentioned her disappointment, wishing to introduce you to at least a few of them. Really, you didn’t mind all too much. You weren’t sure if you felt up to handling more of a culture shock than you had already. That being said, your curiosity wouldn’t allow you to go without exploring later. Once you knew you were safe, once your arm was better, maybe enough confidence could be built to go traveling through this rather beautiful maze.

                After a while, the silence between the two of you, comfortable as it was becoming, finally broke. Toriel paused and turned towards you, giving you a smile unlike the ones you had ever seen from her before. Hopeful. The smile was hopeful.

                She was eager to reach forward and clasp the hand on your good arm, guiding you forward, past a large tree in the middle of a small courtyard, to a small little… home. It was adorable, actually, with it’s shingled roof and the warmth of lamp light streaming through the glass windows. A bed of flower outside the door, another shimmering light near the leaves, the smell of something warm and delicious floating through the air from the chimney that puffed near white smoke up into the darkness of the cavern above. The sight of this place and of Toriel’s happiness made you smile yourself, taken back by the quaint style before you.

               _“Come. This is my home, I will show you inside and we can see to your arm. Are you hungry? I will make you something to eat. You also surely must be tired, I should make a bed for you…”_ Toriel was practically talking to herself in her excitement, tugging you forward through the front door of the house as she cataloged all of the things that needed to be done. Either she did not have guests very often or she was the sweetest sort of creature you will ever meet. Motherly even.

                The house from the inside was just as cozy as the outside. Maybe even more so. Wood floors squeaked softly under your shoes as you followed after the goat monster who seemed to be paying less attention to keeping pace with you, pulling you towards one of the many doors. Most everything in this house seemed to be sized to fit such a large creature, the doors and ceilings being bigger than average. You were small for your age as well so everything probably felt twice as big because of that.

               _“This will be your room. Feel free to explore it later but now, I will see what I might do to ease your pain.”_ Toriel was practically humming now as she opened the door to a room filled with red and pink things. Children’s shoes lined the flooring, book shelves covered the walls and a bed in the corner neatly made as if it hadn’t been touched in a long time. The room itself looked like something you would pull from a dream rather than reality. _“Sit on the bed, my child, and turn your back to me. I will look at your arm now.”_

                You were quick to obey and it did not take long for the stabbing ache to seem to fade away. Her hands hovered over your shoulder, light streaming form her palms as you glance over your shoulder at her. She seemed to be concentrating on her task but all you could focus on was the glow and the feeling of pain seeping away.

                “Miss Toriel? What are you doing?” You finally ask in the silence, hoping not to break her focus but also more curious than anything else. Your shoulder was getting better by the second, feeling as if you had never fallen, and that couldn’t be normal right?

               _“All monsters have a bit of magic in them, my dear, and a bit of magic can go a very long way to healing a minor injury such as this.”_ Her words were accompanied with her finally pulling away, sitting back straight as she examined her work one more time. _“Good as new, I should hope. Does it feel alright?”_

                A quick test of movement proved her to be right and you gave tiny thumbs up in response, still mesmerized by the fact that all the pain had just vanished so quickly.

               _“I am glad I could help. Now, I should apologize as I almost completely forgot. I never asked you your name…”_ She trailed off unexpectedly as you continue to test your arm, swinging it this way and that. You almost didn’t answer her at first, only half listening to the words, but when you glance up to see the expected look, you remember quickly what to say.

                “Oh, no, I should apologies. Frisk. My name is Frisk.” A strange name, of course, for a human, but Toriel wouldn’t know that. She wouldn’t know how odd it was or anything else. The thought alone made you smile. What was odd to a monster anyway?

               _“Frisk. Such a sweet name,_ ” you heard Toriel whisper softly as she nodded, moving to stand up from the edge of the bed. A bit louder, she spoke again, actually intending you to hear it. _“I will leave you to rest, Frisk. Please, feel free to come find me when you wake up.”_

                With those words said, she exited the room, floor creaking under her as she closed the door behind her. Maybe this was her way of giving you time to settle down, to figure out what was going on, and it was nice of her to consider you like that. All of this, the healing, the room, was all so very nice. You didn’t… you didn’t deserve any of this and yet here she was, being kind.

                Reaching up, you brushed a hand over your chest once more, to where your heart would be hiding. To where your soul was tucked away. The flower had told you to show this lady that piece of you and yet, you felt hesitant to reveal such a thing. It felt strangely personal. It felt… something in you protested the idea of anyone seeing that heart. It made you worry, though you do not know why. The emotions you felt at the very idea ranged from fear to panic and honestly, you were not quite sure why you felt any of those in the first place. Toriel could help, could she not? She had healed your shoulder, surely she could help heal what was broken inside you.

                And yet, you were still apprehensive.

                Shaking your head, you glance down at the bed underneath you, realizing now how truly tired you had become from the walk and the previous scare. Adrenaline rushes were good during the moment but afterwards, well, they did leave a body rather tired.

                Kicking your shoes off, you worm your way under the blankets, the bed a bit too small for you to stretch out completely. A bed was still a bed though and it felt soft and warm around you. You blink once, slowly, before your eyes closed and you give up the urge to fight all together. A little sleep could not hurt…right?


	3. Old Stories and New Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk is not prepared for the weight of humanity to fall on their shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to this throughout writing this section:  
> https://soundcloud.com/videogameremixes/undertale-hopes-and-dreams-remix-feat-jenny-1
> 
> I'm sure it will be obvious why as you read.

\-------------------------------------------

A dark chuckle filled the area around you, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once, piercing your heart with a sickeningly cold chill. The voice that followed was filled with malice, hatred really, in the form of stone like disgust.

 **“It’s strange, isn’t it but before all of this, I was hoping we would actually end up being friends.”** Flashes of blue cross your vision, movement like white bones creep closer as they corner you.  **“I always thought the anomaly was doing this because they were unhappy and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this. Maybe all they needed was... I dunno, some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends, but that's ridiculous, right?”**  The voice speaks out, making your ears ring to the point you were forced to cover them to keep out some of the shock. The darkness felt like a being swallowing you whole 

 ~~“You’re right, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”~~ A second voice was quick to answer, this one with a wicked laugh following it. That alone would make your skin crawl for the rest of your life. Both of the voices, thought were all too familiar. You should have known them instantly and yet, you couldn’t peg it down.

**“Yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy. You'll keep consuming timelines over and over, until...well, until you fall apart. Maybe then we will get some rest around here.”**

\-------------------

 

              Your nose hadn’t been lying to you. Funny enough, the first thing that was even prominent at all when you woke was the scent of cinnamon now much more strongly wafting through the apartment. That and the fact that you were tangled up in the bed sheets, sticky with sweat.

               A nightmare, it would seem, woke you up long before you got enough rest. Still, nothing much can be done now. You really didn’t think it was possible to go back to sleep with the echoes of distant voices still sounding in your head.

               Slinging your feet over the edge, your bare feet now touching the cold floor, you stand. Toriel had requested you find her when you woke up and while you doubted she meant for it to happen this soon, now was as good of a time as any.

               The smell only grew powerful when you stepped out in the hallway and traveled down the way that you had come. Miss Toriel was not in the living room you had noticed when you had come in originally but a bit more exploring through the first floor of this home allowed you to find her in the kitchen, humming sweetly to herself. The tune was rather beautiful a melody to a song you didn’t recognize but felt familiar all the same. Rather suddenly, you were unwilling to interrupt her. She was happy right here, right now, rolling what seemed to be a dough of some kind out in front of her.    There was something deep down in you that whispered that if you interrupted her now, you would be going down a path you didn’t wish to follow. That somehow, the beautiful song would end and something much sadder would begin.

               So with quiet footsteps, you slink back away from the kitchen, leaving her in peace for now. Perhaps it would be best to explore the area, now that you were feeling a bit better. You were a bit hesitant to leave the safety of the home but you could probably run fast enough to get back here if something did happen. You would be back before Toriel ever missed you.

               Plus, a breath of fresh air might be able to get the sound of evil laughter out of your head.

               You exited the home as quietly as you could, taking in the courtyard and the area around it. It wasn’t cold and you barely even registered the lack of shoes as you peaked around one corner after another.

               The song Toriel was singing previously seemed to do wonders for covering up the negative thoughts that kept springing up as you began to walk down the pathways of the ruins. This felt familiar, in a way. You knew you should be scared of everything that lay around every corner but you didn’t. You weren’t frightened in the slightest. It was almost as if you had done walked this path a million times before and knew every step by heart. The feeling was silly, you knew, but you felt it anyway.

               Vague forms could be seen in the distance, perhaps the monsters that Toriel warned you about, but they were small and didn’t necessarily seem intimidating. It was nothing you couldn’t handle. Perhaps, if you were going to fall into a world such as this, you might as well meet as many people along the way as possible. Rather than feel fear, you choose to hum Toriel’s song to fill the silence, stepping forward to try to approach the shapes that were beginning to look frog-like.

                You had not gone one more step before you heard the cry from before you. The frantic call of _“Frisk?!”_ interrupted your thoughts and you turn around immediately.

                Oh no… Toriel.

                You hadn’t stopped to consider how she might feel if she found you missing.

                Tears were welling up in the goat monster’s eyes as she finally stopped in front of you. True panic was what you saw, worry and frantic concern. _“Oh thank the lord, you are safe…”_ She seemed to choke out as she reached for you. Before you could even begin to apologize, you were wrapped up in a warm embrace. The hug was so tight that you felt like you might suffocate but behind all of that, you could feel the monster shaking.

                _“Don’t ever do that again. I thought… I thought…”_ Toriel struggled to speak, shaking her head over and over again and you felt your heart drop into your stomach.

                “I-I didn’t think I would scare you.” You just hadn’t wanted to bother her. She had seemed happy. Usually whenever you interacted with something, you ended up ruining it. All your life you’d know this. Things you touch, they just end up falling apart. Might as well spare such a nice lady from more pain, right? At least for a while.

                _“It’s alright. It’s alright. I am just glad you are safe. I feared for a moment that you had-” S_ he continued to trail off, stopping herself from saying whatever it was that she really intended to. Maybe it be better if you didn't know what scared her so much.

                Pulling back, Toriel took a moment to compose herself, running a hand underneath her eyes as you politely look away. _“You are not the sort of human that I image stays still for long. I should have realized it sooner.”_ Her voice was calmer now that her fears, whatever they may be, were quenched.

                Seeing an opportunity, you run a hand over the back of your neck and look at her sheepishly. “I was only curious. This place, I don’t understand. How could it be here?” A ruins under a mountain with monsters… surely someone would know about that, right? You should have at least heard stories or rumors. Really, though, the only fairy tales about Mt. Ebott was that occasionally a person who traveled up it would go missing. The same could be said for any mountain so you never took it into any consideration. People go missing all the time. Sure, for the most part, it was teenagers or children, but adults happened now and then too. It was common. You climbed Mt. Ebott all the time and you had never been hurt before up until now. This entire place hidden under the mountain made no sense in that light.

                Toriel seemed to contemplate what you were asking for a long time before reaching to take your hand. _“Come, let’s find somewhere comfortable and I will explain.”_ She seemed intent on leading you back towards the house at first but stopped before entering, motioning to the area underneath the tree in the courtyard. It seemed as good of a spot as any and within a minute or two, you were sitting comfortably on the ground waiting.

                _“It’s not a pretty story, you should know. I do feel, however, you have a right to it as it is much your history as my own,”_ the monster sighed as she sat beside you, reaching for one of your hands to hold, as if she was prepared to comfort you through the story.

                _“It began centuries, maybe millenniums ago…”_

\-------------

                _“We don’t need to do this!”_

_“I have no other choice.”_

_ “Please, there can still be peace! This isn’t necessary…”_

_….._

_ “I suppose you leave me no choice as well. I will protect my people.”_

_\-------------_

                You struggle to take in everything she told you in the end, as you now sit alone by the crackling fireplace. Hours had passed since Toriel had begun and ended her story and you were still trying to process how you never knew all she told you. Monsters and humans coexisting for thousands of years only for war to break out. A petty, jealous war over magic, caused by fear more than anything else. A war over magic… magic that once upon a time actually existed on Earth. She had told you of the fighting between monsters and humans and the struggle to survive. The outcome was clear by the results as the monsters were down here and humans enjoying the feeling of daylight and warmth on their skin.

                It was all too sad for you to bear. You almost felt responsible for it. Thinking back, it wasn’t a surprise that Toriel had been cautious with the story, perhaps she realized what it might make you think of.

                Your hands were still shaking from the story even now.

                Taking a deep breath, you stand up from the fire, a fierce determination in your soul. You might not necessarily be the best person for the job but you were the only human that you knew of down here right now. It would be your goal to make things right. To set these people free. Surely someone knew how to do it, right? If you went out from here and offered your help, apologized for everyone, than you could fix this.

                The determination in you rang strongly as you headed to Toriel’s room, intent to tell her your plan. You didn’t get so far as the entrance to the house, though, before you spotted a flash of white descending down the stairs to a lower part of the house. Jogging forward, you quickly move to follow her, intent to catch up and tell her everything you hoped to do. Perhaps she would have an idea of where to begin. Going to the leader of this place would probably be the best bet.

                Darn it though with her long legs. She could easily outwalk you even when you were jogging.

                By the time you managed to catch up to her moving form, you had gone through two long hallways and ended up at a large door. Something about this felt wrong. Out of order, even. Should she be down here?

                “Toriel?” You question out loud, noticing her jump as she stood in front of the looming doors. Clearly it was your time to surprise her as she spun around quickly, what appeared to be fire magic snuffing out of her palms the moment she laid her eyes on you.

                “ _I thought you were resting by the fire, Frisk. You should not be down here,”_ she spoke cautiously, shuffling to put herself firmly between you and the door. You didn’t quite understand the motion, not at that point in time, but thinking back on it, surely she was trying to hide the door from your site with her frame. It seems the only logical idea.

                “I came to find you. I want you to take me to whoever rules this place. I want to apo-” you were cut off almost immediately with a sharp and loud **_“NO!”_** before you could even finish your statement, a look of terrifying anger on Toriel’s expression. Flinching back, mouth still open to speak, you let out a small squeak. That was not what you were expecting when you began. She hadn’t even heard you out.

                _“You will never ask such a thing of me again, Frisk. Do you hear me?”_ She said so sternly that you were tempted to obey just so you wouldn’t hear that tone again. Now was not the time to give up, however. It wasn’t the time nor the place to be allowing yourself to be frightened. You wanted to get home, of course, but you also needed to show that you weren’t the actual monster here. That humanity could be good too, if they want to be.

                “I need to see the leader, Toriel! I have to. Please, can’t you just take me to him?” You try to explain, hands out in a pleading gesture as you take a step forward, trying to be reasonable here. If she just heard you out, you were sure she would be fine with it. She was so very nice, surely she would understand the desire to apologize.

                _“I will only repeat this once more. No. Go back to your room, foolish child. You don’t know what you are asking.”_ Her tone had become deadly calm but the glow of fire magic began to shimmer in her palms once more. Without another word, she turned, the magic getting brighter as she focused her gaze on the door.

                You weren’t having any of that though.

                Reaching forward, you grasp onto her cloak, intent to get your point across. You weren’t even able to open your mouth though before Toriel cut you off.

                _“This is the exit to the Ruins. The only way out of this place. I intend to destroy it forever.”_

                You step back in shock, looking past her at the door that stood before them. The only way out. No! You couldn’t let her do this. Beyond apologizing, you didn’t belong here. This wasn’t your home. You needed to move on, to get out.

                “Don’t. Please. I’m begging you. I need to go home. I want to find a way to free you all.” Free _them in more ways than one,_ a small voice you didn’t completely understand seemed to be telling you. _If you were trapped here, there was no way you would free yourself or the monsters from this cage._ Your only option was to get through that door.

                _“If you are so intent on leaving, after all of this… you will have to show me just how determined you are.”_ Toriel whispered and as she turned back towards you, it didn’t escape your notice that the tears were back, welling up at the corners of her eyes. Clearly this wasn’t affecting her decision to stop you as much as you might have hoped.

                Acting as a barrier between the door and you, Toriel now stood, surrounded now by dancing flames of red and orange, warmth basking off her. And with a swipe of her hand, out from your body came the one thing you had hoped to keep safe and sound within you forever. Your Soul, chipped, and cracked in a dozen places, floated above you, a symbol of your determination and a true image of the fear you felt coursing through you.

                Fighting her though… could you even do it?


	4. The Refusal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And you refused.

                It wasn’t as if she was betraying your trust but in a way, it sure felt like it. This monster who had been so kind to you previously not looked at you with determination, flames surrounding her as she intended to stop you at any cost. Would she kill you if you didn’t fight back? You couldn’t possibly know the ends to which she would go to stop you from leaving.

                That little bit of knowledge alone compelled you to fight. No matter how kind she was, she was trying… she was trying to stop you from leaving. She was literally going to set you on fire if you did nothing about this.

                Still, your hands shook as you stared at her, wanting beyond all measure to shove that little heart back in your chest and just resolve this peacefully. You had no weapons; you had no idea how to deal with a monster in the first place. You were on your own and you could feel the panic creeping in again.

                Funny, here you were all determined two seconds ago. Where had all that hope ended up going? Oh right, out the window with the rest of any chance of freedom.

                You shift your stance a little, one leg sliding back behind you as you prepared to dodge out of the way of any fireballs that might end up shooting towards you. Your hands still were held out in front of you, palms, up, pleading.

                “Miss Toriel, we don’t need to do this. Please, please just let me by!” You called out, not willing to give up on the hope that she wouldn’t push the matter. Really, why was this so important to her? Why did you have to fight her just to be set free? It made no sense! You just wanted to see the king or the ruler or whoever led the monsters down here. You wanted… you wanted to help.

                The fireballs weren’t moving though. Apparently she was waiting for you to do something, for you to act somehow, but you didn’t know what to do. You had nothing but your hands to fight with, nothing but your voice to try to convince her to move. So really, you had nothing at all.

                A flash of a choice echoes through your brain: Fight, Act, Prepare, or Spare.

                You could fight her, try to convince her to move, to leave. You had nothing to fight with but you could still try. Whether or not you could get close enough to her and her fireballs was still uncertain.

                You could speak with her. Beg, plead, and try to convince her to move out of the way. Not that it worked the first time… but it was still an option.

                If you prepared to the attack, looked around the room, figured out a strategy, maybe you would take less damage when the fireballs inevitably made its way over to burn you alive.

                Or you could… do nothing. Refuse, really, to fight her. Her life was not worth any more than yours, after all, even if you were different. Fight or flight, the instinctive need to defend yourself, was strong, but you could refuse to fight if you wanted.

                By standing here, chin up, a sob threatening to wrack your chest with pain, you could refuse to fight. Even if it meant dying, you _could_ refuse.

                “I don’t want to fight you.” You finally whisper, the heart hovering in front of you beginning to glow more as your determination increased. You _would_ refuse. You weren’t doing this. Not now, not ever. This was not the right path, it couldn’t be! You couldn’t go apologize to anyone knowing you too had hurt a monster with your own hands. You would be no worse than all the other humans who had come before you, who had locked these monsters away. You needed to be better than them, to prove that not all humans were ruthless and angry.

                The cracks in your SOUL illuminated the room almost as much as the fire did now, gold and red flickering as you prepared. Your choice was made.

                Toriel, who seemed to be waiting for you to make up your mind, nodded softly and raised a hand towards you, fire shooting out from around her. Her eyes were fixed forever on your face and you couldn’t help but see the sadness there as you ducked around a flame aimed at your head. She was having as much trouble as you were with all of this.

                You weren’t exactly the most athletic person out there and dodging around all of the flames was as hard as you might have imagined. Close call after close call ensued, reaching the point where you weren’t sure if you were getting lucky or somehow your body just knew instinctively what to do. The dodging, jumping, and weaving felt so familiar and yet, you were pretty damn sure no one had ever tossed fireballs at you up on earth.

 _“What do you think you’re doing?”_ Toriel spoke out finally during one volley of flames. _“Why won’t you fight me? I’m baring your way.”_ Her frustration was clearly evident, voice shaking as a particularly large ball of fire brushed the edge of your shirt, nearly setting it on fire as it rolled by.

                Your breathing was heavy as you glanced her way, trying to split your concentration in two so that you could answer. “You might be stopping me from leaving…” You pant out, turning towards her as you reach up to grab the part of your shirt hovering above your chest, right where your SOUL had escaped to hover in front of you. “But that is no reason for me to fight you. Just because we don’t agree doesn’t mean I would ever hurt a friend.”

                She blinked softly, eyes filling with what could only be pain. You could hear the gnashing of teeth, grinding together as a sudden intense volley of fire shot your way.

                Your luck was bound to run out eventually, right. It’s just statistically improbably that you dodge all of the fire.

                The flames flew into your shoulder as you try to skate away and you cry out as you stumble. Before your clothes could catch anymore on fire, you quickly swat at material. The fire didn’t just hurt your body, though. The SOUL in front of you, your SOUL, shuddered, the light flickering in and out as if it too took a hit from the attack. It was already so cracked and broken, you didn’t think it could take more than it already had. How did it not break right away?

                Thankfully your clothing was mostly spared from being singed as you stood back up straight, glancing at Toriel with a wince. You were expecting her to take advantage of the opportunity, to fire more flames your way, to use your pain to press closer but no. She just stood, eyes suddenly wide in fear as she stares not at your face but at your SOUL, shaking slightly in front of you.

                _“5 HP.”_ She whispered so quietly you nearly couldn’t hear her. _“Only five… oh no.”_ Her voice was close to breaking and the fireballs at her side began to vanish one at a time. She looked horrified, actually, and you couldn’t help but take a step forward, hand raised as you hesitated. Could you go over there now without being blown apart? Was this finally over?

                _“Even the children who came before had more than that. How are you even alive?”_ You hear once more but the tone of her voice was too much then. With a stuttered step forward, you cover the distance between the both of you and wrap your arms around her waist, feeling the way she shudders. Your SOUL promptly returned to your chest, making you once more complete.

                _“Why could you just not go back upstairs?”_ She breaths out and you feel a hand brush over your hair softly _. “We could have- we could have lived together here. You would have been happy; we would have been happy.”_ All you do is shake your head once more and hold tighter as her words became more broken. _“What sort of person am I that I could not protect even one human.”_ You wanted to speak up, to say that she didn’t need to protect you, but by the way that she was now hugging you tightly, you weren’t sure if that would help anything.

                For a long time after that, there was silence filled with your breath and hers. When it finally did end, it was to a calmer and collected Toriel _. “No, I understand. You would not have been happy here. I can see that… you aren’t a child like I once thought. Your SOUL, you have been through much more than a child ever could.”_ She must mean the way it looked, cracked and nearly shattered in two. The sight had been horrifying for you at first, of course it would be for the monster as well.

                Toriel did pull away eventually, looking down at your smaller frame with an ageless sadness that could not be erased. With a sigh, she stepped back, reaching for one of your hands to hold.

 _“I will not stop you from leaving the Ruins anymore, dear Frisk. I know now that I cannot. But please, before you go, you must understand what is at stake.”_ The hand not holding onto yours motions in the air quickly. Once more, out flows your SOUL, shining and flickering in the space between the two of you.

 _“I have never seen a soul this damaged before. It only has the smallest margin of capacity for damage before it breaks.”_ Both of your eyes stared at the flickering red thing, your gaze filled with curiosity and hers with a mix of resignation and fear. _“Even though I was pulling my punches, you sustained nearly half of that capacity with only one hit of my flames. The monsters out there,”_ she motioned with a small wave of her hand towards the large stone doors in front of you both, “ _will not be so kind.”_

                Which meant, if you had to fight anyone, you were going to have to be careful. You stood little to no chance of making it on your own if you had to fight like this again. Was it still worth it?

                “I understand,” You mutter quietly, staring at you SOUL as you nod. “But I don’t have to fight them. I _won’t_ fight them.” With that being said, you turn and flash Toriel a wide smile, head tilting a little to the side. “Just because they want to fight me doesn’t mean I have to fight back, right? I’ll show them I mean no harm and then they will stop. I’m not going to be like the people who put you all in here.”

                For a moment, your words seemed to take Toriel back but over the next several seconds, her smile begins to grow like yours had.

 _"I suppose you don’t. Just… be careful, Frisk.”_ Slowly the SOUL sinks back into your chest as Toriel steps back, brushing her hands over your shoulders to dust the remnants of the fight away from your clothes. The rolling and dodging had left a bit of dust all over you from the hallway floor. Reaching behind her when she was done, Toriel pulled out a small object from somewhere in her clothing and motioned for you to take it.

                A cell phone? She was giving you a cell phone?

 _“If you ever need anything, while I might not be of use to you, please, call me? I may be an old lady living in some Ruins but I still want to know if you are safe._ ” Clearly she was scared for you but her decision to let you go meant a lot. More than she realized. You took the phone and nod a little. This was a gift you weren’t going to turn your nose at. It meant that even as you left this place, you weren’t really alone.

 _“And if you find you have nowhere else to go, I will keep your bedroom clean,”_ Toriel ended with a tearful laugh, shaking her head. The monster was blinking back tears but her smile was still kind. She too was being brave, in her own way.

                “I’ll do that, mom,” You joke as you pull her into one final hug, face pressed into soft white fur. It was time to go, though, you could feel it. With a sigh, you step back and turn towards the large doors. Stuffing the phone into your pocket, you press the unsinged shoulder to the door, pushing it open with a small amount of struggle.

                A blast of cold nearly knocked you over, eyes peering out into what looked like just a shine of white. Shivering a little, you steel yourself and look back at Toriel who stood stalk still, taking in your appearance as if this was the last time she would see you. That was silly of course. You would come back, you were sure of it, once this was all over with. Her look of worry disappeared into a smile when she saw you looking at her and one large paw came up to wave goodbye.

                Goodbye it was then, if only for now. Turning, you wrap your arms around you and step out into the blinding white of the area outside the Ruins, head held high. No matter what faced you out here, you were prepared to prove yourself. It was the only way to make up for all those who came before you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fighting is weird to write.   
> Next: "Snowdin's a much longer walk then it looks"


	5. Staying Alive 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite the fact you knew a lot about about surviving in a snowstorm, you never considered you'd actually have to use that knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired, it's 3:38 a.m. and here is another update because I wanted to ramble on about snow and Frisk thoughts.

               Snow has this very unique property to reflect light. The white color shines sunlight off of it, making it hard in a lot of situations for a person to look at large blankets of snow spanning for miles. It’s why in many cities you had lived in growing up, the area to the side of the streets would also be relieved of snow, not just the roads. Drivers would have trouble seeing past the glare of white if the sun shone at the right angle.

               You were stuck in a situation now that was a mix of blinding and chilling, snow whipping around you like a whirlwind. Toriel had mentioned in her stories earlier of a place called Snowdin and you had assumed, to the best of your knowledge, that if you left the ruins, eventually that would be the town you would end up in. That being said though, you were clearly going to have more difficulty than you realized getting to said town.

               A true blizzard was whipping up around you and while your sweater was warm and a bit big, allowing you to hide your hands in the blue sleeves and tuck them under your arms, it wasn’t doing so well to prepare you for the ice that was hitting your back. Maybe you could just… turn around and wait out the storm at Toriel’s before starting your journey?

               Oh god, how embarrassing that would be. A flush of red warmed your skin temporarily just at the thought of it and you shook your head to yourself. Nope, not doing it. You had just had this giant speech about needing to move on, no way were you going back the second you walked out. That was horribly pathetic. Just nope.

               With that decision out of the way, however, you needed to deal with your current predicament. The path way in front of you was still sort of visible, covered in a layer of snow that dipped in where the road normally was. If you walked along that for a while, you were bound to hit civilization eventually, right? It was best, however, for your sake, if you didn’t take the road. Not because it wasn’t safe but it was more open to the wind and the pelting ice that was making flurries around your body right now.

               You would have to walk in the forest parallel to the road if you wanted to be sheltered at least a little bit.

               That was fine though. At least you would be out of the main stream of the wind that was whipping its way down the corridor like pathway that cut through the trees.

               Your feet crunched on snow as you walk forward, grateful you were wearing shoes that protected your feet. You had been climbing around Mt. Ebott after all, it was necessarily to at least have hiking shoes on or else you would have ended up hurting yourself on something other than a giant pitfall to a monster realm.

               As you walk to the left, escaping into the tree line, you couldn’t help but wonder why exactly it was snowing here at all. It was only the end of summer back on the surface, temperatures pleasantly average on good days and a bit too hot on bad ones. There was no snow in sight unless you counted snow cones from a street vendor. No ice except the ice cream and ice pops kids would have in their hands as they ran around the park with each other. It would have been another five months or so before you got weather anywhere close to cold, let alone snowing

               For a brief moment, you pull your hands out from your sweater and blow on them, rubbing them together. You had always loved winter, honestly, but the environment near Mt. Ebott was rather humid in general. There was little chance that it would snow during the winter months and what snow you did see melted within a few hours of being on the ground, turning to watery puddles by the next morning. Sure, you saw some ice on the rooftops from time to time but it was just not the type of place that got snow often.

               So, even though you were beginning to shiver slightly, the beauty of the snow didn’t quite go unnoticed. It took you nearly twenty minutes of walking to get anywhere reasonable, often times looking to your left where the road actually was. Really, your one main concern was making it somewhere out of the way of the blizzard. Anywhere would do as long as it had four walls and wasn’t as cold as it was now.

               It was getting a bit harder to see, you had to admit, as the storm picked up. The shivering increased over time but you had the right plan with keeping out of the main section of the blizzard. If you had decided to walk the road, you would have collapsed from the pelting ice and wind by now. These trees around you were tightly packed and while they weren’t necessarily covered in leaves which would have been even more helpful, they were as tall as your eyes could see. They acted like a shield from the wind, blocking it out so it wasn’t slapping you in the face every second.

               Still, maybe you should have saved your dignity and gone back inside the ruins while you could have. You couldn’t have dignity if you were dead after all.

               You passed one small hut back near the ruins and had just ignored it, thinking at the time that you would be fine from the wind and the snow for longer than you were. Now, however, as the thing spindly trees began to change into more leafy ones, you couldn’t help but wonder if you could make it back there before you freeze to death. Anywhere out of the wind, right?

               Your pace had definitely slowed and not because you wanted it to. You needed to keep moving, you knew that. Survival 101 in a snow storm was A.) find shelter or B.) if shelter isn’t available, do everything you can to keep out of the wind and stay warm. Moving kept your heart beating and your body temperature up as high as possibly. Eventually, though, you were bound to get slower as you trudge through the thickening snow. It was the struggle to walk that was making it hard to keep your pace. The snow was building up higher and higher, now nearly to half your calf length. Each step left distinctive trudge marks in the snow and made for a clear and obvious path that you had walked through.

               But you were determined… right?

               You couldn’t just give up here. The thought of stopping here in the snow and dying wasn’t crossing your mind. You wouldn’t let it, in fact.

               You’d been through worse than a blizzard before. Sure, those times you weren’t fighting the elements, you were fighting off people but they were basically the same thing. Both unyielding, both out for pain or surrender, whichever came first. The only difference is that the weather wasn’t malicious in its attempt to stop you. You were the one that sort of walked right into this predicament; it was just minding its own business being ‘chill’.

               Heh, a snow pun, you thought with a shake of your head. Someone you once knew would have loved that. You couldn’t remember his name off the top of your head. His name or what he looked like, even what he sounded like, but he would have laughed so hard at your attempt to make a pun in a situation like this. He’d laugh and then immediately turn to scolding you like a disappointing parent.

               Weird, your heart gave a strange pull at the thought of the guy you couldn’t even really remember. Almost like you missed him. Really, it was fine, you reminded yourself. He was happy and warm who knows where. Nothing to worry about.

               You chuckle to yourself nonetheless, letting the sound gets lost in the screeching wind. Your hands were stiff to move as you pull them all the way back into your sweater, forming a small idea to preserve heat. Using the long sleeves as scarves, you wrapped them up around your neck and face, breathing out warm puffs of air that now was forced to warm you rather than disappear. Your real hands were now trapped inside the sweater under your arms, keeping as warm as possible where they were hidden under your armpits.

               It was no longer a matter of preference where you camped out. Anywhere that you could duck under was your only real option. Very likely Snowdin was another several miles from here and it just wasn’t going to work any longer. You had to give up on that dream.

               The elm trees around you were nearly obscuring your sight of the road now and while you could see the occasional glimpse of it, it was a miracle you managed to peer through the snow at the time you did. Your eyes, by luck and chance only, fell upon another small hut. Perhaps not as nice as the last one as you moved out of the tree cover, wind suddenly picking up at full force to nearly knock you over. Okay, it definitely wasn’t as nice, with its roof slanted and the walls sort of pushed together haphazardly.

               It looked more like an oversized cardboard box than a rest station.

               Still, you were no longer in a situation to be picky. Ignoring whatever the sign said on the front, you duck back around and into the station, pulling your arms back out from the sleeves of your sweater. Almost immediately you are grateful for the protection . While the roof wasn’t the best at keeping out the fallen snow, the direction of the wind currently blowing was graciously blocked by the side walls rather having it fly through the open window at the front. This place provided a semblance of shelter above the level of the trees.

               Eventually the wind would change, though, so best to duck under the counter and stay there. Shutting the door of the station with your foot, you try your best to sweep away as much snow off the floor as possible. It was only so successful with the roof being what it was but it allowed you to move under the counter of the station a little better, pushing boxes out of the way to make room for your body.

    On second thought, however, you pause and begin to search through the boxes, hoping maybe that there was something you could use to start a fire or cover the front window to stop the wind all together. To your dismay, most of the contents of the boxes were rather strange and not very helpful. One box just contained an assortment of bones like you would expect to make up a school lab skeleton. Another simply held scraps of paper that said “Junior Jumble” on it and cross word puzzles with all the boxes filled with the letter Z. There was also a box that only held progressively smaller boxes, the writing on the outside saying “FOR FUTURE USE! VERY PUZZLING!!!” in large black capital letters.

               None of those were really all that useful to you.  The only thing that was of any true value you found, was a small red scarf. It was tattered and slightly worn, bunched up in a corner underneath the counter rather than in a box. It looked like it had been dropped and stuffed under there by accident the way it was shoved rather than placed there on purpose. No matter the reason it was there, however, you were going to take advantage of it as best as possible.

               So you made yourself a little protective shelter under the counter, using the extra boxes to basically make yourself a walled in area under the counter. You were beginning to shake, you could feel it, teeth clattering in your skull, but this was the best you could do. The scarf wrapped around your neck, feet tucked to your chest in as small of a ball as you could get, you knew this was how you had to stay if you were going to make it through the blizzard.

               The true question was how long it would last. Some storms, you knew, were powerful but blissfully brief. Others could last for days on end with no finale in sight.  You had no idea what this would be but you prayed to any god out there that would listen that it was the first one. You could outlast the first one, probably, but the second… that wasn’t an option.

               Reaching for your pocket, you pull out the cell phone Toriel had given you, flipping it open. You already regretted leaving the warmth of her fireplace and the taste of butterscotch and cinnamon pie still lingered at the back of your throat from after she told her stories. No matter how much you might wish to call her now, however, there wasn’t a chance. The signal bar at the top of the outdated phone blinked a red X, clearly indicating that no calls could be made at the time.

               The best you could do was send a text, typing out a short explanation of “Got stuck in the storm… camping out in one of the stations along the road” and have the little message bar continue to say Sending. It would probably do that until it could finally get a signal and send it through.

               Until then, you were going to stay right here and live.

               Good plan.

               Mostly.

               God, this was horrible.

               Reaching up, you rubbed your eyes tiredly, the chattering from your teeth still a constant noise to accompany the howling of the wind around your little cardboard hut. People would always say you should never fall asleep when you were cold but you could understand the temptation, certainly. Your body was tired from the time trudging through the snow and from your fight with Toriel earlier.

               The fire burning your shoulder was a crisp memory in the back of your head and you realized that you had never tended to the injury, rubbing at the soreness of the area. Really, most of the pain was gone by now, the snow doing you a favor in numbing the area to the point where you were blissfully aware of any pain that might have come from the burn.

               You were fine. You were going to be fine.

               A small yawn slipped from your lips, warming the scarf that covered your mouth and pushing the heated breath back onto your cheeks. The scarf was a lucky find, clearly the warmest thing you had on now even with the tears around it.

               It smelled like burnt tomato sauce, admittedly, but you didn’t mind all too much. It was a sort of familiar scent that while unpleasant, made you smile all the same.

               Eyes closing, you promise yourself that you aren’t going to go to sleep like everyone says not to and set your mind to working out exactly what got you in a situation like this. It had been a crazy stream of events all the way up until now. Really, you were tired to your very core, not having slept much due to the nightmares even when you did have the opportunity. You’d fallen down a hole, nearly got killed by a flower thing, was taken in by a monster that didn’t hold a single bad bone in their body and ultimately had to fight the same creature not hours later. Little time in between was spent resting or recovering from the fall or the trauma and no time at all was spent after the fight to heal.

               You were one hundred kinds of stupid and you don’t have the life capacity to do anything stupid. Toriel had said that you held very little room for error with your soul and you trusted her on that. While your body seemed mostly well put together, your soul was falling apart and your body was pretty connected to that from what you could tell.

               If you took too much bodily damage, would your soul just shatter the rest of the way?

               As these thoughts and more seemed to stream past you, it completely slipped your notice that you had fallen asleep, just what you were trying to avoid. Your thoughts never really stopped moving so it didn’t even occur to you that you could be asleep. Which made it harder for you to recognize the transition from thoughts to dreams when it occurred.

               When one thought about the battle with Toriel transitioned to you physically standing in front of her, a blade in hand, you barely even noticed. You just surveyed the scene, eyes critical as you looked at the goat monster in front of you, fire surrounding her that no longer felt warm but like a blast of cold air as it whooshed past you.

               And then a laugh filled the small entrance, cruel and manipulative. Your body lunged forward, dodging all the fire to slash out at the goat creature who only wanted to protect you from everything outside those doors.

                She was there… and then she was gone, your shoes grinding the dust that formed from her body into the ground as you make you to the exit of the Ruins.

                By the time the snow stopped whipping around cardboard shelter and settle back to a calm and peaceful winter scene, you were too far to gone to hear the footsteps.


	6. An Unfamiliar Human Appears!

The snow had fallen for several more hours after you had made your home in the tiny little shelter. At one point, the entire world became window of white and gray, the light fading away from the sky only to make it even harder to see past the expanse surrounding all of Snowdin.

                Taking shelter when you had was probably the best possibly thing you could have done as not thirty minutes later, everything just went to hell. Temperature dropped to the negatives and though you were protected from the wind and the snow where you were, it was hard not to feel the cold. Even in sleep you shivered, having done all you could to protect yourself and even that was barely enough.

                When all finally lay quiet, the snow flurries dying down to mere puffs from the caressing wind, it was just about morning. Night had come and gone, marking the worst of the blizzard as over. Light began to touch the tips of the snow heavy elm trees. Birds started to shake themselves away from their warm nests tucked protectively in the thick branches. Squirrels finally risked showing their heads once more.

                The world was covered in white. Unblemished, perfect white. Other than the trail of footsteps that was still slightly visible in the snow from where you trudged through last night (the section only being slightly indented from where the rest lay), no one had marked up the perfectly covered ground yet.

                It was all quiet, all peaceful, all so very still in its serene beauty that it was hard to capture with words.

                Of course, everything beautiful ends and this moment of stillness that the forest was experiencing was interrupted by a loud “NYEHEEEE” sounding over the tree tops only an hour or two after daylight finally claimed this world.

                “I KNOW I LET IT OUT HERE, SANS!” The loud voice echoed across the forest and the sound of stomping and snow could be distinguished along with it. “WHAT IF IT GOT BLOWN AWAY? HOW WOULD WE FIND IT THEN?”

                Whoever he was talking to was obviously speaking at a more normal volume as it wasn’t making birds fly away. All the same, a simple **“Don’t worry so hard, Paps. If you worry about it too much, you’ll be _bone-tired_ by the end of this.” **

                The sound of a disgruntled and indignant groan pierced the air and there was more trudging forward through the snow.

                Around the edge of the road came two figures, one enormously tall and the other rather average. In comparison, however, the smaller one would appear almost tiny. They seemed to be… skeletons? Yes, definitely skeletons. Their heads shining in the light of the morning that reflected off the snow on the ground. Bones for legs and arms, no skin in sight, no muscle. Definitely skeletons.

The taller seemed to be working his way through the snow at a rapid pace, pushing most of it off to the side to make a convenient pathway for the smaller to walk behind him. Both, of course, didn’t seem to care that they were disturbing the quiet that came after the storm. Or, at least, the taller one didn’t take note of it and the smaller didn’t care.

                “THIS IS HIGHLY SERIOUS, SANS. WHAT IF IT’S GONE FOREVER? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY REPLACE IT?” The taller spoke, voice filled with loud distress as he made his way through the snow to the broken sentry station.

                The smaller, Sans it would seem, didn’t seem to be as concerned about whatever the taller one was worried about, hands stuffed into his pockets with a nonchalant look. “ **We’ll get you a new one, bro. No biggy.”**

                “YES, I SUPPOSE WE COULD… BUT THAT ONE IS HIGHLY UNIQUE.” The taller monster spoke again, seeming to accept the proposal but only with a bit of sadness. It was nearing the cardboard shelter now, seeming to peer inside with a lot of confusion. “DID YOU DO SOMETHING TO MY SENTRY STATION, SANS? THERE ARE BOXES EVERYWHERE! I KNOW YOU HAVE A TASTE FOR DISORGANIZATION BUT THERE IS NO NEED TO MAKE MY WORK STATION MESSY AS WELL!”

                The creature moved out from peering inside, intent to go into the back of the station and begin to clean up. All the while, Sans simply gave a little shrug. “ **Didn’t touch it, bro. Maybe the storm knocked stuff around.”** It had been one hell of a doozy, after all. It was possibly that boxes from inside the sentry station just got shuffled around by the wind.

                With audible sigh, Sans turned to look farther down the path towards which led to the Ruins entrance. It had been more than just a little storm. While it had been quick, that storm had been one of the worst they had seen in a while. Might not have done much damage overall but while it was going on, it had certainly covered a lot of ground.

                Not enough to cover up the tracks in the snow leading up to Papyrus’s station however.

                He noticed them only a second before he heard a loud screech from inside the sentry station but there was no hesitation when he turned, eyes flashing blue and hand shimmering in his pocket. Papyrus?!

                “SANS. IS THIS? IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS?!” The loud almost victorious noise came from the creature as boxes were suddenly flying out of the opening of the sentry station, scattered papers going everywhere. Clearly there was no regard for care as whatever was in there had caught the larger skeletons attention.

                “IS THIS… A HUMAN?!”

                The look of swift concern in Sans’s face immediately turned to recognition at the statement and then, for one brief moment, it held something almost unfathomable. Uncontrollable, undisguisable, unmatchable anger. It filled his entire face, his left eye glowing with a brightness that could rarely be matched.

                Sans, while a big believer in taking things slow, didn’t hesitate to teleport to behind his brother who was crouched in the back of his makeshift sentry station, peering around a small wall of boxes to where a form lay beyond.

                To where you lay, unmoving, hands curled to your chest and head hidden almost completely in Papyrus’s scarf, the only thing you had during the night to keep you warm. Even with all the noise they had been making, you didn’t seem to be moving or showing any signs of waking up. In fact, the skin that could be seen peeking out here and there actually looked blue.

                There was no weapon in sight, at least.

                The blue light dimmed and faded from San’s eyes as concern once more mingled with the anger. Shaking his head, he knelt down, moving to push the rest of the boxes to the side so that he could pull you out a bit easier.

                Papyrus didn’t seem to be catching that you weren’t, well, all there. He was too busy practically singing with joy, bouncing up and down like a baby bones. “A HUMAN. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT SANS! FINALLY, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE A PART ABLE TO JOIN THE RANKS OF THE ROYAL GUARDS. I WILL BE ADORNED, PRAISED, I WILL HAVE FRIENDS!” He cried out happily as Sans steps back, looking between you and his brother. This time, however, he seems to notice the look on the smaller skeletons face, excitement fading away as he hesitates.

                “SANS, IS THE HUMAN…” Papyrus appeared to stare between the two of you as the smaller skeleton held you carefully. Each breath lifted your chest maybe a fraction of an inch.

                **“Alive, for now. Here, take them and get them home as fast as you can, okay, pal? Get them warmed up, k? Wouldn’t do you any good to say you captured a human that has already _fallen down, I’m guessing._ ”** Sans muttered with a deadly amount of calm, moving to hand you over to the taller skeleton whose arms immediately moved to accept you

                Papyrus couldn’t even agree faster, the excitement now gone and replaced the most extreme levels of care and concern. “IT WOULDN’T, YOU ARE RIGHT. HUMAN, DO NOT WORRY. YOU WILL BE WELL SOON NOW THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE TO HELP YOU!” The eager skeleton said as he carefully tucked his scarf closer to your neck and began to run at what should not have been a capable speed of anyone back towards through the snow.

                Sans didn’t follow as quickly. Instead, he watched the two of you go with a cold look in his eyes, the pinpricks of white as small as grains of dust. The shadows of the sentry station covered most of his expression from the light of day but anyone paying attention could see the gnash of his teeth.

                One minute went by followed by two of him standing there just like that, completely still as he watched where you and Papyrus disappeared. Three minutes, four, and his hands began to shake visibly, glowing blue as the seconds went by.

                At the five minute marker, everything seemed to implode in on itself. In a blaze of blue light, the wall of the sentry station that Sans stood next to evaporated into smoke, only shambles remaining behind to flutter to the ground. The rest of the station inevitably collapsed in on itself a moment later as nothing this improperly made could handle the stress of a giant vaporized hole in its wall.

                And Sans simply stood in the ruins of the building, light gone from his eyes as the blue flames burned themselves out on the snow surrounding the area.

                **“How could you?”** He whispered out finally, words dripping in their own version of a lethal poison. **“How fucking could you?”** The words whispered to the air around the skeleton.

                Sadly, no one was there to answer but the wind and snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next on Forgotten Tales lessons: "Being nice is hard when you're screwed over"


	7. Threat or a Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason this chapter took so long is because I am working on the newest COMIC page for this fic. I occasionally take pieces and turn them into comics you can see on my deviantart: lakeore.deviantart.com  
> It will be up today or tomorrow. I'll write the next bit of the fic once I'm finished.

                It was a strange struggle to breathe right as the world kept on turning. Time seemed to move on around you like a speeding bullet or a race car on a track, not stopping or slowing as it rounded the bend over and over again. It was a blur of movement, a timeline of events that made no sense and you couldn’t remember as soon as it moved on to the next. There were just colors and images, soundtracked to the weak beat of a broken heart. Some were more colorful than others, filled with joy and peace and mercy. Others held strength and violence, dimming the world to shades of red, blue, black and white.

                Your body felt like it was on fire at times, others it felt chilled like ice. Hell, in a lot of ways, was still heavily debated as to whether or not it burned hot or cold. Maybe somehow you had found a portal to where you belonged.

                Finally, however, after what could have been eons for all you were sure, the speeding bullet slowed and the racing car put on its breaks. No longer were you a blurred image on the side line of other events. You were coming back to yourself.

                When you finally awoke, it was to something cold on your forehead, something warm draped over your body, and the dim sound of an announcer’s voice advertising something called “Nicecream” in the background.

                Your eyes actually hurt to open to the light and you clench your teeth to the small shiver that runs down your spine. Sluggishly, you move to pull off whatever was on your forehead, already beginning to feel overly cold. A bag of ice? Or almost melted snow, actually, you could see. Why was that on your head?

                Calculating your surroundings took several minutes, blurry eyes glancing around at one thing to another before the individual images formed a full, though confusing, picture. You had been in the shelter… hadn’t you? That outpost off the ruins? That hadn’t been a dream… right?

                Could it?

                You were certainly waking up in what seemed like a normal house at first inspection, more than one blanket draped over your body as you sprawled over a worn but comfortable couch. Was all of that just a bad dream? Your head throbbed uncomfortably as you shift a little. Maybe it all _had_ been just a dream. There was no such things as monsters, of course not. That was ludicrous. From the horrible feeling in your body, you were at least eighty percent sure you had been sick. Fever dreams. That was it, of course.

                So where were you now then?

                A clattering and a humming seemed to come from behind you as a door loudly creaked open. Whoever it was that came into the room was stamping loudly towards the kitchen, clanking as they walked, but didn’t seem to notice you were awake yet. With a soft groan under your breath, you move to sit up, shifting on the couch so that you could turn to see who it was.

                “Human?”

                You blink tiredly at the figure as you rub the rest of the sleep from your eyes, finally trying to take in whoever was there.      

                Rather suddenly, there was a body in front of you and arms were encasing you in what must be the world’s fastest and most surprising hug, a loud cheer sounding out at such volume that it made your ears ring.

                “HUMAN! YOU ARE ALRIGHT! THIS BRINGS ME A GREAT AMOUNT OF RELIEF. WE, I MEAN, SOME OF US, WERE WORRIED FOR YOU!” The thing said as it nearly pulled you up off the couch in its hug before pulling back to hold you at shoulder length. Drawing in the air you lost from the crushing hug, you steady yourself and look at the beaming face of a rather thrilled… skeleton?

                Definitely a skeleton. There goes the whole ‘dreamed up monsters’ thing.

                Still, if this was the monster that saved you, they had your thanks. Clearly you would have been gone were you to still be outside in the snow.

                You hum softly and give a weak smile, the monster enthusiasm a bit intimidating but sweet all the same. Toriel had said the monsters past here would be dangerous, eager to hurt you, and yet, this one was all smiles and victorious looks.

                “I AM PAPYRUS, SMALL HUMAN. I HAVE NEVER MET A HUMAN BEFORE. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” Papyrus boomed, still holding your shoulders and leaning in too close for normal levels of comfort. It was fine though. This was fine.

                “Frisk. It’s, um, nice to meet you, Papyrus. Where, uh, am I?” You sputter out, swallowing away the pain and soreness from your dry throat so that you can speak. Normally you would shake the monsters hand now or something but he was kind of still too close for that. God, you were starting to get light headed again.

                “YOU ARE IN OUR HOUSE, HUMAN FRISK! THOROUGHLY CAPTURED BY MYSELF WITH A TINY AMOUNT OF HELP FROM MY BROTHER THREE DAYS AGO. YOU WERE UNDER BOXES IN MY SENTRY POST.”      Again you were swooped up in another large hug, the air leaving your lungs in one big puff as you tried to breathe, only managing a sharp cough.

                **“Might be a good idea to put the kid down, Paps. They are probably not feeling 100% yet,”** A gruff voice echoed from somewhere above you and tilting your head allowed you to see just enough past Papyrus to notice the figure leaning on the balcony overlooking the room. Had they been there the entire time? You hadn’t even bothered to look up before and there hadn’t been any noise indicating they just got there.

                “I SUPPOSE YOU ARE RIGHT,” Papyrus agreed, not seeming odded out by the other person above them watching as he did step back away from you finally. It allowed you room to breathe again, pulling the blankets tighter to your chest as you rub your hands on your arms. Your body couldn’t tell if it wanted to be cold or hot right now, probably an aftermath of being sick and also stuck in an ice storm.

                “HUMAN, DO YOU REQUIRE SUSTAINANCE? YOU HAVE BEEN ASLEEP FOR A LONG TIME, SURELY YOU MUST BE HUNGRY.” Papyrus asked almost immediately, strutting over to where a brown paper bag had been discarded half way between the front door and what you could only assume was the kitchen from the small bit you could see through the door.

                Just him bringing it up was enough to make you immediately feel the huge pang of hunger that echoes through you. “That would be… really good, actually.” You answer with a weak smile, nodding your head to accompany it. How long had it been since you ate? The butterscotch cinnamon pie back at Toriels? Mentally you count on your hand, figuring it was probably been four days or so, since Papyrus had mentioned you had been here for three.

                “THEN YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT, HUMAN, BECAUSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE MAKING YOU A DISH TONIGHT FAR SUPERIOUR TO ALL YOU HAVE EVER TASTED BEFORE! SANS, COME DOWN HERE AND WATCH THE HUMAN WHILE I PREPARE.” The taller skeleton didn’t quite so much walk into the kitchen as he did sprint, leaving you alone to stare after him in the wake of the words. A soft bubbling laugh actually escaped your lips, impossible to hold back as you shake your head. This was insane. Papyrus… well, he was certainly something.

                Turning, you look up at the monster up on the top of the banister. While Papyrus was tall and skinny, wearing what seemed to be armor of some sort along with red and yellow accents with his gloves, the one above you was smaller. He seemed to be watching you with a rather calculated expression as he leaned against the railing posts, blue jacket seeming to consume any part of his body that you normally would be able to see. Those were definitely basketball shorts or something similar he was wearing, though. Skeletons had the oddest sense of attire.

                “Sans, was it?” You ask to break the silence but clearly it doesn’t work as all the monster does is straighten back up and stuff his hands into his pockets. The quiet was awkward and uncomfortable now, filled only with the clatter and banging coming from the kitchen like someone was mid-fight with a blender or something.

                “I’m, uh, Frisk. I should thank you. Papyrus said you were with him when you found me. I got caught out there in the blizzard. The only place I could find to duck into was that outpost thing.” You weren’t sure if you were thanking him or trying to apologize. It sort of felt like a mix of both.

                Ducking your head into your chest, you look away towards the kitchen as Sans slowly descends the stairs, pink slippers making little to no noise as they fell to the ground. You felt like something was suddenly crawling under your skin as you continue to look away, certain that the skeleton was looking at you. Nothing else would produce this reaction, fear and terror and confusion all rolled up into a package with a bonus of eery quiet.

                When you did look back towards the monster, you instinctively shrunk back into the couch. The skeleton had come to a stop in front of you, body pointed towards the door rather than at you. He was close enough that if he reached out, you were sure he’d be able to grab you without missing.

                Your internal debate had moved from whether to be scared to whether to even look up at the skeletons face. Somehow you weren’t sure if you wanted to know if he was looking at you or not. You hear the gritting of bone, like someone was clenching their teeth together in anger or frustration.

                **“You know…”** The same voice spoke slowly, the drawn out words being undercut with something utterly chilling that made you want to shrink back into the blankets around you and never venture out again. **“There’s an old saying that goes something like ‘you fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.’ Ever heard of it?”**

                Of course you had, you wanted to say almost immediately. It was a human expression, more common than a lot of other ones. Nearly every human had heard it. You decide, however, in this situation it would probably best to just give a short and simple “Yes?”

                The skeleton nods above you and something seems to crack in the air, peaking your curiosity enough to force you to look up at his face. What you saw, well, was enough to make a grown man shiver.

                San’s face was pointed just slightly towards you, mouth in a grimace and eyes wide. It was the flare of blue fire streaming from the skeleton’s left eye that made your breath catch in your throat. It was the look of sheer anger and disgust that made you want to go find the nearest hole and die in it. You wanted to look away, to hide your face, yet something locked you up and forced you to take in every small bit of the moment.

**“Let’s just say, I’m not going to let there be a third time.”**

                With that, Sans turned away, breaking the trap like hold, allowing you to sink back into the couch with a look of fear. Your chest hurt, the SOUL inside you quite honestly shaking. Even long after the skeleton walked away, leaving the house all together with no more than the soft sound of the door shutting, you couldn’t get yourself to stop shaking.


	8. Mothers Don't Lay Idle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did you expect her to do other than this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for waiting patiently for this next chapter! I finished my comic based on the first chapter of this story (Flowey and Frisk's first interaction) here:  
> http://lakeore.deviantart.com/art/Have-You-Forgotten-Already-Undertale-Comic-589046629  
> and took a day or two to write this chapter out. It's actually longer as a result which I hope you all will like. 
> 
> Enjoy *X*

                Even minutes after Sans had disappeared, you still weren’t quite sure what had happened. The threat, the very **_obvious_** threat, hadn’t made much sense to you. Clearly you had done something wrong but well, it didn’t do to worry about it too much, right? Even if you couldn’t get the sight of that glowing eye and that malice filled smile out of your head, you could try to focus on other things. You could stop some of the quivering if you concentrated, curling your hands in the blankets around you and staring ahead at the nearest fixed point.

                You were fine. Nothing had hurt you, the threat didn't matter. Sans was mistaken.

                You were fine.

                “HUMAN! I HAVE FINISHED PREPARING YOUR MEAL. WOULD YOU LIKE TO EAT IT ON THE SOFA?”                 Papyrus called from the kitchen, effectively snapping you out of your freaked out state. No need for him to be even more worried about you then he already was. These two had clearly found you in a worrisome state out in that sentry post. Probably half dead… or ninety percent dead. The fact that you could still move your fingers was a surprise in it of itself. No frost bite, no pain in your feet, no missing digits. If you had collapsed in the snow rather than the station, you were sure wouldn’t have fared so well.

                Papyrus appeared at the edge of the kitchen a few seconds later with two plates, reminding you that you hadn’t actually answered the question. “The sofa is fine, thanks,” You mutter quietly, scooting to the side to make room for him.

                “WHERE DID SANS GO? I PREPARED HIM A PLATE AS WELL!” The monster questioned as he moved to hand you a plate of what seemed to be… spaghetti maybe? It was a bit charred and that sauce on the top didn’t appear to be tomato sauce, more like flakey bits of burnt skin with a tomatoish color. This was what monsters ate?

                You fight off a grimace as you look at it, trying your best not to offend Papyrus. Even if the meal didn’t look edible, you were too hungry to really complain. Several days without eating would do that for you.

                “Sans, um, left. He didn’t say where he was going,” You mutter as you stick a fork into the pasta and taste your first bite. It was, well, horrid. Not as bad as burnt skin and charred noodles (even if it looked like it) but it was on the verge of being unswallowable. You will power it down however as best as you can, giving Papyrus a weak thumbs up and a smile. Even when it hit your stomach like a sack of bricks you maintain your smile. There’s no reason to upset him if he put time and effort into making you this.

                “THAT LAZY… SANS PROBABLY WENT TO GRILLBY’S. I TOLD HIM TO WATCH YOU,” Papyrus huffed in annoyance, sending a glare towards the door before turning to the food he had on his second plate probably intended for Sans. With a little shrug, the monster dug into it himself, seeming much happier to shovel it into his mouth than you were.

                For a moment, you just stare, having no idea how he could possibly be eating anything. He was bones. He had no stomach. Where was the pasta GOING? You were almost afraid to find out. Forcing yourself to look away, you set your mostly finished plate on the ground in front of you.

                “So, What happened exactly, Papyrus? You found me out in the storm?” You finally question, tucking your knees to your chest and leaning back into the sofa. Your curiosity was acting up, making you want to piece together what happened while you were out of it.

                Papyrus didn’t seem to hesitate to begin recounting the events, however. It was a good thing he didn’t have any more spaghetti on his plate or it would have gone flying when he started gesturing wildly. “YES, WELL, IT’S FAIRLY SIMPLE, HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM TRAINING TO BE A ROYAL GUARD. THE BEST OF ALL ROYAL GUARDS! MY JOB IS TO WATCH AND WAIT FOR A HUMAN TO COME SO THAT I MAY CAPTURE THEM AND TAKE THEM TO ASGORE. MY BROTHER HAS THIS JOB TOO BUT HE IS NOT SO DEDICATED AS I.” His words suddenly made the existence of a sentry station near the ruins make sense. Toriel had mentioned that monsters out here were not so kind and while Papyrus didn’t seem to be hurting you right now, he had a job to capture humans too.

                “WHEN WE WENT TO GO RECALLIBRATE OUR PUZZLES AND FIND MY BATTLE CAPE THE MORNING AFTER THE STORM, WE FOUND YOU IN MY EXCELLENTLY CRAFTED SENTRY STATION HIDING UNDER ALL OF MY BOXES.” Papyrus motioned briefly towards you and for a second you feel confused. That was, before you looked down at yourself and your eyes widened in surprise. Battle cape… the scarf. You were still wearing it.

                A look of chagrin crosses your face and you immediate move to pull it off, offering it towards him. “I found it under the counter when I was trying to get warm. It helped a lot, Papyrus. Thank you.” It was probably the warmest thing you had on you and it kept your entire face from being chilled by the weather.

                He seemed to be able to tell how genuine you were and accepted the scarf back with a grin. “PERHAPS IT WAS LUCKY THAT I LEFT IT THERE, THEN.” His smile grew wider as he wrapped the scarf back around his neck. It certainly fit his theme of battle gear and armor, you would give it that much.

                “I BROUGHT YOU BACK HERE AFTER WE FOUND YOU. WE WERE CONCERNED YOU WOULD NOT WAKE UP… BUT CLEARLY YOU ARE FINE NOW! FINE ENOUGH TO EAT MY AMAZING SPAGHETTI AFTER ALL.” He laughed at the end, an odd sound that sounded more like the nyehing of a horse than an actual life. You no longer had a scarf to hide your smile in so you just tuck your face into the blanket around your shoulders and chuckle a little.

                “NOW THAT YOU ARE AWAKE, I CAN TAKE YOU TO UNDYNE AND BECOME PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” Papyrus face scrunched up slightly in a giddy expression and while half your brain was wondering how a skeleton could be making facial expressions, the other half suddenly grew rather panicked. Right. This was a capture, even if they had taken care of you. Sure, you were trying to get to the king anyway but you didn’t really want to be taken there as a prisoner of war or something.

                Papyrus, while perhaps not the most attentive person in the world, easily noticed the start of a frown on your face. He was quick to try to remedy the expression with a pat on your head and another smile. “DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN. ASGORE COULD NOT HURT A FLY. I AM SURE HE ONLY WISHES TO TALK TO THE HUMANS THAT COME THROUGH BEFORE LETTING YOU FREE!” The king was, by far, the nicest person in the underground. A big push over. That explanation was the only one that made sense to Papyrus as to why he would want humans captured.

                “WE CAN… WAIT ANOTHER FEW DAYS, HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE NOT FEELING WELL YET?” He added on carefully when your frown didn’t disappear. Maybe it was hesitation to leave that was making this small human upset. It would be perfectly understandable to not want to leave someone so great as himself after only just meeting him. That must be it. The human was just being bashful.

                “IT IS SETTLED THEN! YOU MUST STAY HERE TILL YOU ARE FIT TO LEAVE AND THEN WE CAN HAVE THE ENCOUNTER WE WERE MEANT TO. THERE WILL BE PUZZLES AND JAPES!” Standing up quickly, Papyrus rushed towards the front door. “DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE, TINY FRISK. I MUST GO CALIBRATE MY PUZZLES FOR WHEN YOU ARE FEELING BETTER!”

                With that, Papyrus rushed out the door of the house, leaving you alone here with an aching headache and a horrible aftertaste in your mouth that wasn’t just caused by the food. Why would the king want to see you? It made no sense. Toriel had said that monster were angry at humans, surely the king would be too.

                If you stayed here, you were going to have a really bad time of staying alive, you had a feeling.

                For the first time since waking up, you try to stand, your body wobbling a little as you raise yourself up off the couch. Most of the muscles in your body ached from laying down for so long and your back was downright screaming protests for being ignored. It was fine though. You were alive, that was all that really matter. Injuries healed, aches went away eventually.

                Huffing to yourself, you stretch slowly, the bones in your shoulders cracking and popping as you do so. Whatever flu symptoms you seemed to have had over the last several days seems to be fading and while it was a little hard to breathe through your nose without sniffling, you weren’t as bad off as you probably had been. You had been unconscious for three days on a sofa after all, it was fine.

                You were going to be fine.

                Reaching up, you thread a hand through your hair and slowly meander around the room. There was little of note to actually see in here. A few books on a side table, some being recipe books, others weirdly enough about quantum physics. The tv was still on, playing out a scene from a show you don’t recognize at a low volume. There was a rock just sitting on a table by itself, perhaps decoration of some kind? You weren’t exactly too sure.

                Overall, it looked like a nice little house. The brothers lived well, comfortably. You had no room to criticize and it was certainly not your place to judge. This place was five times bigger than where you had grown up, after all. It was already nicer and better than anything you had experienced.

                Shaking your head, you shuffle your way to the front door, peering out the window near it to the world outside. Just like the forest, it was just as white outside now as it had been in the forest though the snowing had stopped for now. Off to your right you could see the edges of houses and movement, monsters running around in the snow. To your left seemed to be just an empty road leading off out of town.

                That would be your way out.

                It had clearly already crossed your mind that you couldn’t stick around to be taken as prisoner. No matter how nice Papyrus was, being dragged to the king of monsters vengefully was not something you wanted to happen. Sans clearly wasn’t happy about your presence here either. If you were going to get anywhere with your plan, you couldn’t sit idle.

                There would have to be an escape out of here eventually. Maybe tonight, maybe in a day or two. Papyrus had been right when he said you still weren’t feeling completely well so maybe leaving wasn’t the best idea right this exact moment… but you would need to eventually.

                You would have to be a bit more prepared, obviously, than you were when you left the ruins. Warmer clothes, food, a backpack maybe. A weapon to defend yourself might be nice but that was probably out of the realm of possibilities for you to get here. Your best bet was to go grab a giant stick when you left from one of the trees and use that.

                Would you need to avoid the monsters in the town to get out safely? You couldn’t be sure if they were going to attack you on sight or not…

                It hit you rather suddenly how paranoid you were being. You could probably just walk out right now and head to your left without anyone caring about you at all. The monsters you could see running around in the snow didn’t seem like they would hurt you… Papyrus didn’t seem like he would either. Maybe Sans would if he found out you left but other than that, you were probably okay.

                There was no need to be freaking out as much as you were.

                You could take a day to rest and then just leave. Nothing was keeping you here really… Papyrus probably would leave every now and again to do his job and you could just slip out.

                Admittedly, part of you sort of felt guilty for ruining the skeletons chance to be a royal guard. If he could capture you, he would get to fulfill his dream, right? By leaving when he wasn’t looking, you were sort of ruining that for him.

                “He’ll find another way,” You whisper to yourself as you shuffle back to the couch with a yawn. He was a great guy, surely he’d make it there just by pure effort and dedication alone.

                Laying back down on to the couch with a huff, you curl back into your small little ball. A ton of energy had been expended just talking to Papyrus and moving around. One small nap wouldn’t hurt you any. You’d leave tonight when everyone was asleep and no one would be the wiser. Just a small nap in between.

                Right? Right.

\-------------------

                You startle awake once again with the loud yell of “HUMAN! I HAVE BROUGHT YOU A VERY DEMANDING WOMAN SHO SAYS SHE KNOWS YOU!” echoing from the door. Sitting up, you blink rapidly, your head spinning and your vision blurry as you look towards the source.

 _“My child!”_ A more urgent voice came out and you pause, confused. Toriel?

                That was Toriel moving towards you now, cloaked in warm attire of white and purple and looking like she had not slept a wink in weeks. Her expression was drawn, exhausted, but her eyes conveyed the deepest sense of relief that you could imagine. Fur stuck in in many directions from around her head and she seemed unkempt for such a noble looking lady.

 _“Oh Frisk, I was so worried,”_ She spoke, moving to wrap you in a warm embrace, pushing your head into her chest and hugging you so much you almost couldn’t get air to your lungs. Why was she here though? Wasn’t she supposed to be back in the Ruins?

 _“Tor-iel,”_ You choke out as you hug her back. _“What are you doing here? I thought you were staying in the Ruins. Is everything alright?”_ You fire questions at her in rapid succession, pulling back to look at her face. Clearly with that distraught expression something must have been wrong. Had something happened in the Ruins to make her have to leave her home?

 _“Am **I** alright?”_ Toriel answered, offended for a moment as she looked up and down the human bundled up in blankets, nose pink from a cold and forehead spotted with a bit of sweat. Clearly you weren’t well even if you seemed to be acting and speaking like you were feeling better. “I should be asking you that! What could you possibly be thinking when you walked out into a blizzard? If I had known the weather was like that, I would have insisted you waited till morning.”

                The text message.

                You had completely forgotten.

                Fuck.

                Your eyes widen a little as you remember suddenly the message you had sent when you had finally found shelter in the storm. It must have gone through when the signal hit your phone again and without you being awake to confirm that you were actually still alive, Toriel must have panicked.

 _“Now you understand.”_ The goat monster sighs deeply as she releases you from the death grip of a hug. Her gaze flickers to Papyrus who for once seems to be standing there a bit confused as he looks between the two of you.

 _“I tried messaging you back as soon as I got your text but you never responded. I feared the worst… that you had… that you were…”_ She trails off slightly, unable to finish her statement and choosing rather to continue on than keep struggling. _“After several hours of silence I decided to try to find you. I searched the forest for two days but I could only find one sentry station intact. The other seemed to have been toppled over. You were in neither of them.”_

                “ _As you were not there, I found my way to town hoping you had taken shelter here. Your skeleton friend here happened to overhear me questioning someone and said they had taken you here.”_ Tears welled up in the old woman’s eyes and she ran a paw over your hair, smoothing it down as she looked over you slowly. _“I thought for certain that you were lost. I could not bear to lose another child…”_

                You were not sure what to say then. You weren’t sure how to begin to apologize. This woman felt so dearly towards you, had so much compassion, so much care. She had been so afraid that you had died in that storm that she had wandered a forest for two days trying to find what she could have only assumed was your dead body.

                The weight of your guilt crawled down your back.

                “I-I’m s-so sorry, Tor-iel.” You choke out the words as you wrap your arms around her again, this time initiating the hug as your own matching set of tears begins to well up in your eyes. She cared for you more than you deserved, more than anyone deserved, and you hardly knew her. The amount of love you felt was indescribable and you fight off the sob that bubbles at the back of your throat.

                How long she holds you is uncertain, you shuddering as you fight your own bodies reaction to just break down right there. You could feel small drops of something wet fall on your shoulders, your arms, your hair as she leans over you. Tears. She was as upset as you were.

                But it was okay now. “I’m so so sorry,” You hiccup, a sniffle slipping from you as you raise a hand to wipe at your eyes. It felt like an eternity later that you pulled away, face still red from the tears, but you felt better. Loved, even.

                “Papyrus and his brother found me out in one of the sentry stations. They took care of me. Brought me here. It’s thanks to them that I’m still alive.” You blink over at the skeleton who had been being as polite as he possibly could, standing there awkwardly in his own living room. A clear orange blush seemed to shine off Papyrus’s face and he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck.

                “IT WAS NOTHING, HUMAN. ANY ROYAL GUARD WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME.” The thanks and praise was a bit too much for him and he seemed to dismiss it as best as possible. However, Toriel was quick to look up at Papyrus kindly after you spoke, a tearful smile on her face.

_“You saved them. That is clearly not nothing. Really, thank you.”_

                Papyrus was quick to exit the room in a fit of nervousness, blushing and mumbling things of distress. Something along the lines of how he hadn’t done much and it was all in the name of duty. Whatever the reason, neither Toriel nor you would forget the service easily.

                You two sat in silence for several minutes, her paw running a hand over your hair every now and again like she needed to make sure you were still there. When she did finally speak, it was with a mix of ancient sadness and unexpected hope.

_“Has this experience made you reconsider, Frisk? Would you come back with me to the Ruins?”_

                The thought hadn’t even crossed your mind. As much as you might like to tell her yes you would, your thoughts on the matter hadn’t changed much. You were still determined to get out of here, to find a way to escape the underground. Not only that, but you needed to find a way to break the barrier. Your SOUL was determined on this matter. There had to be something you could do and being in the Ruins wouldn’t help anything.

                Apparently your answer was written on your face as she nodded sadly, glancing away. _“We will talk more about it later, I suppose. You must be tired. Rest some more, dear. I am staying in the inn so I will come to visit in the morning…”_

                Moving to stand, she readjusts the blanket that was draped over your lap, seeming to dote on you for more than necessary before turning towards the door.

                She didn’t even have time to reach it before it was opened for… what, the fourth time today? Fifth? You’d lost track. There was a lot of coming and going in this house apparently.

                It would seems Sans was back from wherever he had went in the first place, hands stuffed in his pockets and face turned towards the ground. He wasn’t even paying attention as he moved inside, essentially running face first into Toriel.

                Long gone was the look of pent up anger as he turned his expression upward, staring at the monster in front of him. You almost felt the urge to laugh he seemed so dumbstruck by her appearance. Mouth open, eyes wide, no longer did he look like some kind of killer monster that would bite your head off.

                He seemed, well, shocked out of his skin… if he had skin, that is

 _“Oh, hello there!”_ Toriel said rather sweetly, smiling as she made to compose herself more for the smaller skeleton. _“My name is Toriel… and you must be the brother that Frisk was referring to. I can’t thank you enough for rescuing them.”_ Tori spoke, holding out a hand to shake. Sans didn’t move for a few seconds, looking more and more confused before suddenly he seemed to school the fish out of water expression.

 **“Yah, that would be me. Nice to meet yah,”** He returned the hand shake, giving the monster a cool smile as he looked over at you. **“You sound familiar. You sure we haven’t met before?”** There was something about his voice, almost like he was struggling to act as chill as he was. What was with that odd expression on his face, like everything that was happening was so entirely unexpected?

 _“I don’t think… wait, yes, you’re right. You wouldn’t happen to be Sans, would you?”_ Toriel questioned and you realized suddenly that you hadn’t actually brought up the smaller skeletons name before. They knew each other?

                “ **Knew I recognized that voice. Hey old lady, did you get _bonely_ back in the ruins?”** Sans chuckled softly, shooting a look at you out of the corner of his eye that you managed to catch before he glanced back at Toriel. What that look meant, you weren’t sure.

 _“No, no. I came looking for Frisk… they said they got caught in the blizzard and I was worried. I can see now that they were in good hands all along.”_ Toriel’s smile was growing wider by the second, much more pleased than you had ever seen her. These two had history somehow, clearly, even though you figured they hadn’t actually met before.

 _“I was just leaving but I’m sure we can catch up soon! It’s late and Frisk should be getting some sleep.”_ She sent a look towards you telling her words were really more like a command. You give her a sheepish little shrug, unapologetic for overseeing the conversation between the two.

 _“I will see you in the morning, Frisk. Sleep well,”_ She waved a quick goodbye before shuffling past Sans and out the door into the cold.

                Nodding to yourself, you pull the blanket back over your body, turning only when you realize that there was still cold wind brushing your hair and face. Sans was still standing in the open door watching Toriel disappear through the snow farther into town, the perplexed expression on his face back now that she was gone.

                Apparently it was obvious the moment you started watching him as he turned to meet your curious gaze a moment later, same sort of confused look now in your direction. **“What do you think you’re doing, kid? I mean, what exactly is happening here?”**

                “Sorry? I mean, I don’t know what you’re actually talking about. You know that, right?” You finally admit, more willing to talk with him now that he wasn’t staring fiery daggers from hell right into your SOUL. “If I knew what you were talking to… I might be able to answer but you aren’t making much sense. Same for, uh, earlier when you… you just aren’t making sense.”

                If skeletons had eyebrows, they certainly would be raised now. Doubtfully raised, if you were going to be specific. He didn’t believe you! With an aggravated sigh, you shake your head. Clearly there was something you were missing that you should understand. There seemed to be no way to convince Sans otherwise, though, but hey, at least he isn’t being so much of a dick about it anymore.

 **“You don’t, huh?”** Sans continues to question as he steps closer to the sofa and your form laying there, trying to fall asleep despite the sort of frustrated look on your face. **“Nothing I’ve said makes any sense at all?”**

                It was your turn to shoot daggers up at him, brow knit in an unhappy expression. “I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to say it till you believe me. I mean, I appreciate what you and your brother did for me – I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you both – but if you want me gone or something, I can leave in the morning. I already plan to anyway.” There was your admittance, the giveaway of your plan. It’s not like Sans wants you to stay anyway. What with the clear threats and the pointed looks, you were definitely not a wanted member in this house. You would be out by the time the sun rose if it meant being free of the weird feeling of forgetting something you should probably remember.

                A long pause issued between the two of you – Sans looking at you like he was trying to see through you and you looking back with as much determination as possible.

                The contest was only broken when his entire expression changed, going from scrutinizing to humorous faster than a speeding bullet. **“Nah, that’s cool. Stick around as long as you want. I guess I was just mistaking you for someone else.”** He waved a dismissing hand as he turned to walk towards the stairs, leaving you with your jaw dropped open slightly. The sudden change in behavior from him was so expected that you almost felt floored. There was a laugh behind his words now rather than annoyance and the pinpricks of white in his eyes were much more visible in the darkness.

 **“Sorry about that, Kid. Didn’t mean to freak you out or anything. Maybe I can make it up to you when you wake up if you’re still around.”** He gave a tiny little shrug as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. **“I figure you are _bone-tired_ anyway after today. Get some rest.”** The pun almost made your frown disappear as he winked and headed up to the second floor, not stopping to say anything else as he entered the room on the right.

                And there you sat, stunned into silence by the change of behavior that almost had you laughing with surprise. The Sans that just disappeared was a completely different person than the one from earlier. Whoever he was, you definitely preferred him. At least you knew you were welcome to stay a little longer than just the morning. It would give you time to speak with Toriel before you continued on. The thought did actually make you smile as you tucked your legs back to your chest on the coach and dozed off again once more.


	9. Glitter Doesn't Belong in Pies, Papyrus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. I rewrote it 4 times till I was happy with the progression arc. The first part is Sans P.O.V. if that isn't completely clear.

                Sans could have sworn they was faking it. Why else would they feel the need to reset over and over again and lie about it all the time? It had just been some game to them with each monster down here being puppets.

                It had happened so many times that he had forgotten what that truly innocent expression on your face could look like.

                How many resets had it been now? Ten, twenty, a hundred? He wasn’t sure off the top of his head anymore, it had gotten that bad.

                But this had never actually happened before. The storm, taking them in… that was all new. Toriel being here, that was new. Usually he didn’t get to meet the queen at all in these runs, Frisk ending up taking a route that didn’t end in the monsters freedoms. It wasn’t all bad, usually. One death, maybe two. Okay, he knew how that must sound… heartless and cold to consider any death as not so bad, but when you have seen the entire genocide of the monster race, one death meant very little.

                Especially when it was all just going to disappear anyway.

                It was never the same person twice, funny enough. Frisk always did something a little different when they went through here. Looking for the thrill of something new, Sans had always figured. What would happen if they just killed one monster… what would happen if they cleaned out the Ruins but spared everyone else? They acted as a self-appointed God with a twist.

                Still, there were always rules, always patterns. They never left the Ruins before a certain day; they always died from only specific events that occurred. No matter how long they stayed in Snowdin, Undyne was always there to meet them at the edge of Waterfall. Mettaton was always here to fight them in Hotlands. Papyrus was always there to try to stop them from being the monster they were. There was only so many options to meet and interact with them.

                Frisk could only do so much, even for an acting god.

                They had never come out in the snowstorm before. They had never even experienced that storm. It usually happened the day before Frisk appeared, like a signal for the world to be wiped away in white for the human’s arrival. So yah, after the betrayal had worked its way through his system, Sans did kind of have to question what game was being played here.

                If it wasn’t for Papyrus always around doting on the unconscious kid, well, Sans wasn’t sure Frisk would have made it through that fit of sickness either. Sans definitely wasn’t doing anything to help them along.

                It’s weird to call them a kid, admittedly. Just sort of habit more than anything. No kid would have survived that storm. Sure, Frisk was a kid when they fell down here that first time, Sans was pretty sure, but they definitely weren’t now. The skeleton’s acting theory was that the kid was sort of independent of the time stream. They seemed to actually experience time, growing older as they walked through their life while everyone else just popped back up to wherever they were when the Resets first began.

                So they might not be a kid now, but Sans was still having trouble kicking the habit. After so many times calling them one thing, it was going to be hard to stop.

                Maybe he should be grateful things were different this time. Maybe it was a good thing, right? Frisk didn’t seem to want to kill anyone, right? Sans wasn’t sure he had it in him for another genocide run, not this soon after the last one. Those… hurt. Way too much.

                But still, they had all been happy. So damn happy for once. It had been the longest time without a Reset that Sans could actually remember. Free. Up on the surface, happy, monsters actually getting to settle down for once.

                And then he woke up in his bed in a small little town called Snowdin that felt more like hell than anything else now.

                Sans sighed briefly, running his hands over his face as he peered over the railing at the human below. Did they really not know what they were doing to everyone?

                Frisk had never outright mentioned the Resets to him in any run and Sans had made it a habit to avoid talking about it as well. The skeleton had just assumed it would be no use going on about something they both knew was happening.

                It only made sense that Frisk knew what was going on. How else would they do something different every single fucking time this happened? There was no way they could wake up with a clean slate… right?

                He groaned in frustration, making sure his voice was quiet enough so as not to wake the sleeper on the floor below. God, he was tired from all this. Three nights he had stayed up watching Frisk sleep, making sure they didn’t walk out and start killing everyone the second his back was turned. There was not a moment since Paps found them that Sans wasn't watching from somewhere.

                He was so tired of this.

                Why had Frisk looked so damn confused when he had finally outright asked what was going on?

                This made no sense.

                And…

                Maybe that was a good thing.

                Things were changing, he could sense that. Frisk was different this time. Just as determined but everything they did held the slightest note of change from the original. It was like they were someone else entirely, forged by small actions that made up to a different person.

                It felt like this was a last ditch effort for a cause Sans didn’t understand and hey, maybe that too was a good thing. Maybe that meant it all would end one way or another. Sans wouldn’t complain too much if that was the case. It felt like he was trapped in hell the way it currently was. If it meant an end to it, this change was for the better.

                He barked out a short laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. He could almost hear Papyrus’s voice in his head now, yelling something about not giving up till everyone was happy. His bro would scold him for being so despondent. He cupped a hand over his teeth, rubbing slowly as he mused. There was a weird hope floating in the air now. Weird in that Sans wasn’t sure if he was hoping everything to just end or for a happy ending.

                Frisk was always one for surprises, though.

                Slowly the skeleton straightened up, shaking his head. There was no use to this. Whatever questions that needed to be answered could be found out in the morning, right? The human wasn’t going anywhere. They didn’t seem to be inclined to hurt anyone this run around… so for once, Sans allowed himself to slip back into his bedroom with the intent to actually catch some well needed rest. He deserved it after all this.

\------------------------

                Waking up was as much of an ordeal as going to sleep. Banging, crashing, cackles and screeches were intermingled with light laughs and the smell of something sweet that you had smelled once before.

                With a groggy frown, you sit up, rubbing at your face as you rub your shoulders. God above, sleeping on a coach this lumpy will probably kill you if you keep going at it. Your back ached from the strange springs that stuck up into and was that a piece of… gold stuck to your pants? There was _gold_ pressed into the crack of the sofa. This entire thing was horrible and apparently stuffed with money.

                You shake your head as you stretch, hands clasped out in front of you as you roll your neck. Slowly but surely you force yourself to wake up, eyes darting out the window behind you to take in the sunny day.

                “BUT DO YOU NOT NEED TO ADD IN GLITTER? ALL THE BEST SUGARY ITEMS CONTAIN A LAYER OF GLITTER, NO?”

                The loud voice you now associate with Papyrus boomed through the house, clearly talking to someone in the direction of the kitchen. At least with him distracted, you had time to properly wake up instead of the jostling and shaking you can only imagine might ensure from the eager skeleton if he realized you were awake. Let someone else handle him while you wake yourself up.

                It’s weird, how fond you feel towards the skeleton you really only just met. He saved you, sure, but it felt like you had known him for a decade.

                You take the next several minutes just staring out the window into the winter snow, allowing your mind to catch up to your now awake body. You felt good, surprisingly. Not so sick anymore, anyway, which was progress. It was almost like you hadn’t been through a blizzard without protection. Whatever the skeleton brothers had done to help you while you were out must have worked wonders because logic has it that you should still be sick in bed right now, not smiling peacefully out a window.

_“Dear, I said no glitter, remember. Don’t think I don’t see you reaching for it! We are using sugar this time."_ A scolding voice sounded from the kitchen, finally interrupting your thoughts. Toriel. You had almost forgotten she had come out of the Ruins for you. Even now, she was acting like a mother and you could probably imagine the disapproving face she was giving Papyrus.

                A surge of warmth filled your chest, the fondness creeping back in that you know you shouldn’t feel. You were far too attached to these people who… you normally weren’t like this. You held people at just enough of a distance that you could avoid getting hurt. You tried, once upon a time, to care and it had only ended up with fiery words and pain.

                Or at least… you think it did. The memory was kind of hazy, like it happened a long long time ago and to another person entirely.

                Shaking your head, you finally force your body to get moving. Bare feet touched down on the carpet floor as you stood, wrapping the blanket that was all too warm around your shoulders. You weren’t quite mentally prepared to leave the comforting warmth just yet so it would seem the only option was to take it with you.

                So, blanket mummy as you were, you trudge your way over to the entrance of the kitchen and peak in. Hoping to observe from the edge to whatever might be going on.

                And what was going on… was surprisingly non-chaotic.

                You would have expected a mess to surround the kitchen judging by Papyrus’s overeager nature and the yelling but in fact, it was rather domestic. Different ingredients were spread across the kitchen counter, an assortment you could tell even from this distance to likely be for baking. Sugar, eggs, Flour, bowls, spoons… it looked all very organized and clean. Toriel, of course, was behind it all. Her cloak rolled up to her sleeves, she seemed to be instructing Papyrus on the proper methods to make… pie? It smelled like butterscotch pie but you could only really hope in that regard, the oven that was on not giving away its secrets from this distance.

                Papyrus, of course, seemed to be taking all of this in with the best of spirits. “ARE YOU SURE WE ARE NOT MEANT TO TOSS THE FLOUR IN? UNDYNE NEVER MEASURES HER INGREDIENTS…” He was glancing between the ingredients rapidly and if you had to make a guess, it would be that while he was out of his comfort zone, he was probably enjoying this quite a bit. He had been so eager to make you food earlier.

_“I am quite sure, dear. It tastes the best if you get it exactly right…”_ Toriel answered patiently, measuring out flour into a little cup before pouring it into a bowl.

                Papyrus still seemed very skeptical and you hold back a laugh. Maybe you could actually help. Tucking the blanket a bit more securely around you, you finally speak up from your place at the door.

                “Imagine it’s like one of your puzzles, Papyrus. If you just toss everything together without care, it won’t turn out as nice at the end, right?” Your voice was still a bit scratchy, you had to admit, but it didn’t seem like either of them noticed as they turn to the sound. Toriel’s smile brightened significantly and Papyrus looked practically overjoyed.

                “HUMAN! YOU ARE UP, GOOD! ASGORE’S CLONE WAS JUST TEACHING ME HOW TO MAKE A PIE! YOU ARE CORRECT THOUGH… IF BAKING IS ANYTHING LIKE PUZZLE MAKING, IT MUST BE PRECISE.” He seemed to understand the concept now as he approached you, not so tentatively picking you up in a warm hug. Your feet having left the ground, you didn’t really have any control over the fact that he was now shuffling you and placing you in front of Toriel and the baking supplied.

_“It’s good to see you up, my child. Are you feeling any better_?” Toriel asked, brushing some stray flower from her paws on her cloak, not seeming to mind the bit of a mess it made. She really was so much like a mother, especially in this scenario.

                “Much better, actually. Like none of it ever happened.” It could have all been one big bad dream if it wasn’t for the fact that you were here with one of the people who saved you.

                “Good, good. I’m glad to hear you are recovering. I was worried it would take longer,” She darted a glance at your chest, seeming to take in account something that you couldn’t see before nodding a little. Whatever she had seen made her nod a little and turn back to the baking in front of her.

_“I was just going to go out to gather a few more ingredients for the second pie. I clearly didn’t get enough when I was at the store the first time,”_ She coughed a bit, eyes darting to the trash can in the corner. Shifting on your feet, you choke back another laugh at the remains of what seemed to be a pie attempt that sparkled like a diamond, glitter coating the batter and just about everything else in the trash bag.

                Priceless. These moments were utter gold.

                “Would you like to join me, Frisk? It would be good for you to get some fresh air,” Toriel asked as she watched you try not to laugh. The question was just enough of a distraction for you to catch yourself and nod.

                “I’d like that. Maybe I can get something warmer to wear while we are out,” You smile in response, tugging on your sweater that could probably use a good washing after all it had been through. A change of clothes would be nice, especially if you were going to be travelling further into this place.

                For now though, your plans of escape were best left to the side. In fact, the longer you stayed here… the farther and farther away they got. Maybe that was a good thing.


End file.
